By Homeland Admin
Since January, the situation around the proposed HMO at Lochbank Manor has dragged on, and people locally are getting fed up with it.
After more than 600 objections went in, the council took them off the website for what they called “screening purposes.” Because of the number of objections, the application has now gone to a planning committee.
Even at that stage, basic questions still have not been answered. Councillors say they do not know who the building is meant to house, whether that is migrants, recently released prisoners, or use as a women’s shelter. For most people, that just is not good enough.
Dave Gardner spoke at the committee hearing and put forward the concerns that a lot of locals have been raising from day one. The reason he has the backing he does is simple, people in Forfar know him, they trust him, and they know he is trying to do right by the town.
It is also worth saying plainly, without Dave stepping in early and without the work of the community group, this may well have slipped through with far less scrutiny. Instead, it has been dragged into the open and properly challenged.
Once again, a decision has been pushed back. Councillors now want to carry out an on-site visit before moving forward, so the whole thing drags on even longer.
The situation has also started to get attention in the mainstream media, although not in a helpful way. BBC Scotland ran a piece that did not deal with the actual concerns at all, instead choosing to go after Dave and accuse him of spreading misinformation.
Plenty of people will see that for what it is. Rather than deal with the issue, go after the person raising it.
There is now even a counter group online, more interested in smearing Dave and undermining the effort than actually engaging with what is being proposed. It has not changed much on the ground, though. Support for Concerned Residents Forfar is still there and still growing.
Nothing has really changed where it matters. People are still being kept in the dark, and the questions are still not being answered.
While others take shots from the sidelines, local people are still doing what they have done from the start, sticking together and making their voices heard.
And that is not going to stop.
