An olive branch has been offered in the Angus legal highs battle.
Rev Martin Fair of St Andrew’s Church in Arbroath has offered staff at a nearby shop the chance to sit down and discuss the issue.
Mr Fair was the catalyst for the town’s campaign against new psychoactive substances (NPS) and has led peaceful protests in opposition to the sale of the controversial substances.
Discussions between members of Arbroath Against Legal Highs Facebook group and staff at Arbroath shop Declaration could now be on the horizon after Mr Fair said he “would be happy to meet” to discuss the impact NPS are having on the town.
The move comes after Declaration manager, Laing Hodson, said he had been excluded from the Facebook group set up against the shop.
Rev Fair told The Courier: “We have been reasonably clear with the people who have been blocked from the page and explained that we are not creating a debate forum.
“From the beginning, when we started the group, there were a whole bunch of people using the page for a debate on other subjects, mostly about the legalisation of cannabis and we blocked that discussion.
“Not that it’s a non-valid discussion it’s just that we very much wanted to say that this group is a single discussion group.
“We are focused on one thing and that is the prevention of the sale of legal highs in Arbroath.”
He added: “If the staff at the shop are saying that they don’t know how the community feel then I would be happy to meet with them and discuss the bigger picture, but the Facebook page is not the forum for that.”
The sale of NPS in a number of county shops has galvanised communities into action. Thousands of people have signed up to the Facebook groups aimed at ridding their towns of the shops that sell the new drugs.
Police have also been taking names and details from customers using the Declaration shop at Brothock Bridge.
Shop manager Laing Hodson said Declaration promotes education of its products and refuses to sell to those found misusing them.
When asked if he would consider meeting the Arbroath group, Mr Hodson said: “I wouldn’t see why not. My boss is very much against the products being misused and doesn’t want children getting hold of them.
“He would be happy to do anything to educate people but people have their own choice about what they want to do.”
No date has been set for the meeting, but members of Montrose Against Legal Highs have confirmed they will meet MSP Nigel Don and councillor David May to discuss the issue on March 29 at Montrose ACCESS office.