Sue Williams, Front Street, claimed this week it would make the seaside village look like a "no-go area".

In a letter to the Northern Times (see Page 8), she stated: "This is a small village, not an industrial unit."

Planning consent is being sought to erect the fence around a vacant site on Hall Street. An application was lodged with planners recently and was advertised in last week's NT.

The ground in question was previously the site of Embo Village Hall, which was demolished early last year because of its dilapidated state. The planning application has been lodged by Dornoch Community Council, but the driving force behind it is Embo Community Centre Company.

The company asked the community council to lodge the application in order to benefit from the council's entitlement to a 50 per cent discount in planning fees.

Objector Sue Williams said she had read of the proposal with disbelief. She pointed out that Embo had already had an "insensitive barrier" built on the dilapidated village pier.

However, Embo Community Centre Company trustee Liz Robertson explained this week that it was intended to establish a community garden on the site.

The group has received a £3000 grant from the Moidart Trust and plan to instal picnic benches and flower beds.

"When the hall came down, it left a bare bit of land which we thought it would be nice to use for the village," she said. "We decided in the interim to turn it into a community garden, until we agree what we want to do with it long term.

"We'd like to turn it into an area which people can enjoy. It's at the front of the village, so they can sit and watch the comings and goings at the caravan site. It is also not too far from the shop."

Mrs Robertson said that, because the site bordered two roads, it was essential to fence it off on security grounds.

"I know there were one or two people in the village a bit concerned when they saw the application advertised," she said. "We're actually looking at the kind of fencing that the Highland Council uses and similar to the type that was erected around the play park in Embo."

But she admitted: "We were primarily concerned with the safety and security of that area and did not really look at it from any other angle."

She has now offered to meet with objector Sue Williams. "We are not trying to annoy or antagonise people. It is a village and it is better that everybody gets on," she said.

"Maybe once she understands our goals, she might look at it in a different light. She might also be imagining something quite different to what we are proposing.

"It would probably be better to get together and have a discussion about it than leave it to simmer."

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