Yes - The town centre looks terrible and it is nearly impossible to get parked near to town. Daniel Croke
Yes - Inappropriate buildings in the wrong settings. Nothing against modern architecture, but when it's wrongly placed it looks like a zit on a pretty girl. Brian MacLeod
Yes - It's not the city centre that is the problem. I find the bland suburban sprawl that is spreading like a cancer around its outskirts the worst part. No thought has gone into building communities into these new developments, no communal areas where shops, pubs and other services could be placed. Combined with the building of a few behemoth supermarkets dotted around the city, the end result is that car transport is an everyday necessity, where residents commute between soulless food warehouses and their boxy depressing abodes. In another few decades, these carbuncles will kill the city. I cannot see how such short-termism in planning could have arisen unless the councillors and planners are terminally stupid or in the pocket of the developers. Ruairidh Campbell
Yes - There is no new architecture in Inverness - apart from Eden Court Theatre - that indicates the transition from town to city status. One of the most used and populated areas of Inverness is the Business and Retail Park which completely lacks imagination in the design of the office buildings but especially the design and layout of the shop units. There is no atrium or weatherproof garden where visitors can relax, reflect, or be creative. There is NOTHING to foster creativity in people. The retail park like most of Inverness is 'functional' and lacking in imagination. The phase 2 Eastgate Centre has some appeal. I do like the atrium, but sadly the 'food court' on the ground floor is 'cold' and basic and could have been designed as a performance space and not just a barren picnic area. I love Inverness because I love the people here and because I work here and socialise here, but architecturally it doesn't inspire me at all. If our architecture and social environment is a reflection of who we are, then I wonder what they say about the people of Inverness. Denys McNair
Yes - Inverness is going downhill architecturally at an alarming rate trying to be something that it is not. We seem to be giving approval to building modern property but Inverness should be kept to traditional design properties even if costs are greater as our visitors come for something different than they can get everywhere else. Also, we are losing our countryside by allowing unnecessary housing on agricultural land against local plans. Kathleen
The River Ness - The view looking down the river is amazing at any time of the year. Walking along the river bank is so pleasant as is sitting at the side of the river on a sunny day. The river leads the eye to the many important and beautiful buildings and churches along its bank and makes Inverness the beautiful city it is today. Linda Meecham
Yes - Quite simply we want our children to be healthy, children are children and must be guided in the right direction. I say, show the young ones adults with chest illness through years of smoking, adults with a drink problem, and last and certainly not least, adults who have eaten unhealthily all their days starting from schooldays. The advice is there for us, FREE, so why not take it?! Andy
Yes - I would like to know what the board is doing in the area to improve the tourism and visitor numbers to Inverness and what the taxpayers money is being used for. Brian Fraser
Yes - It hasn't been a "Stitch in time" but it has been a very effective "Nine", not least the repair of the buildings and the removal of the foliage from the roof-tops. Come on you ungrateful taxpayers, it's a lot better value than fireworks and, dare I say it, Gaelic signs. Jim T
No - We are reaching the end of the age of cheap oil and climate change is happening faster than the worse case scenario. We will be forced to use a lot less oil, which means fewer cars on the road hence no need for more roads. What we do need are more cycle paths, footpaths, public transport, urgent expansion in renewable capacity and a return to local food production and local businesses. This is what any public money should be used for. We'll probably find in the future we're trying to dig up the tarmac to extract the oil! Anne Thomas
No - I am in my late 50's, live approx 2 miles from my place of work and use the Cathedral car park on a regular basis - it is a 5 minute walk from my office in Young Street. If it is changed to bus/coach parking only can you tell me where I can park on the west side of the City, in reasonably close proximity to my place of work? Please do not suggest taking the bus. I tried that a couple of weeks back, and will not be doing it again in a hurry. The bus, the 7c service, was 10/15 minutes late in arriving at my stop. I asked for a single fare to Castle Street, the driver did not tell me the service no longer went this route. I decided to get off the bus in the Crown area, deciding it was quicker to walk from there, and I paid £1.10 for the 'privilege.' Some people would suggest walking or cycling, but due to our unpredictable weather, and the type of clothing I need to wear for work this is a non-starter for me. I am all for tourism but can a 'bus pound' not be found on the outskirts of the city. The drivers could drop off/pick up their passengers from their hotels/guest houses, park the bus/coach in the pound and arrange for themselves to be transported back and fore. As you can tell I am far from happy with this latest hare-brained proposal. Can I suggest that Councillors, who, incidentally, no doubt have their own dedicated parking spaces, spend their time prioritising the needs of the average, working council tax payer like me who spend more of their hard earned money in the city than any tourists and visitors. John Hamilton
No - Apparently the developer wanted this demolished years ago and was refused. Now it’s been damaged by the fire the developer will probably get their way. Have they caught the arsonists yet? It’s a historic building that the 60s didn’t tear down and should be renovated and preserved. Inverness has already been scarred enough will new developments. Philip Kennedy
No - Car park charges are a cost to patients and their families, especially here in Inverness where people are coming from all over the Highlands. Making a charge was justified by saying it stopped the car park being used as a park-and-ride, but all they need to do is make the barriers open with a token, and only dispense the tokens within the hospital. The inconvenience, and risk of being challenged, will put most unauthorised users off. John McLaren
Yes - Young council workers are very poorly paid. I personally know of one who has no home in Inverness, has to stay with a couple in their eighties in a 2-bedroomed house, and despite working for the council can't even get on a housing list. Where is the fairness here, and what happened to key workers? Of course if he was an irresponsible girl and had got pregnant he would be assured of a house or flat. Where is the justice in that? Disgruntled and disgusted Invernessian
Someone else - Whether we like it or not Inverness is expanding rapidly. Personally I preferred it as it was. However change is here to stay, and nothing will reverse it, not even economic or environmental shifts. Balfour is not the right man for the job, even if people think it's right that he stands up and says what he thinks. That, actually is not all that clever for someone who is supposed to be a voted member of the council or indeed wants to stand for Provost. What we need is wisdom, clarity, open-mindedness, and a cosmopolitan view of life. Balfour does not have that. Gray comes a little closer to what is needed. But alas our leadership all round is 'tatty'. Anyone who slates a cultural centre is not an open-hearted person. We're in a right old mess, post-Highland 2007. But no one was really looking where we were going. The HIghlands is a fantastic place to work and live. But Inverness really needs to ring out the old this New Year, and get in the new. Think young, think intelligent, think compassionate, and you don't see Balfour do you? There are some wonderful younger people in the Highlands who could really do Inverness proud, but we're stuck with the old bores and their griping, moaning whinging and bickering. Find someone young and support them to the top, or like Hamlyn, Inverness will be forever old. Jelica Gavrilovic
Yes - Because quite simply Sainsbury's is the best supermarket going and Nairn deserves the opportunity for quality shopping which it provides. Just wish we could be so fortunate as to get one here in Inverness. To be the 'Tesco Capital' of the UK is not many people’s idea of a claim to fame and like the good people of Nairn I feel that we deserve the choice of where we shop within a reasonable distance. I have nothing against Somerfield, Morrisons or the Co-op for that matter but Sainsbury's is just the best. I have even travelled to Aberdeen (the nearest Sainsbury at present) to shop there but in light of the recent horrendous increases in fuel prices that is no longer an option. At least if the Nairn store does come about it would be a feasible journey to do a weekly shop. The icing on the cake would be for Inverness to also to have a Sainsbury's store. S and K Tomlinson
Yes - Because they have shown that they are totally incapable behaving responsibly after a drink and use it to cover there own inadequacies. Maurice Yates
Castle Wynd - They will be another visitor attraction and possible to see them better. I also think that they will be better protected there by the CCTV that will already be in place at the Castle. I know that their original place was on top of what is now McDonalds, not an ideal location unless this is changed. I think that McDonald’s should be moved! Liz MacInnes
Castle Street - It is visitors to the city that will visit the complex, probably more so than the locals, and unfortunately Inverness really does not have a lot for visitors under cover. Due to the inclement weather in the area this sadly is a shortcoming within the city centre. The Northern Meeting Park should remain as it is but should be modernised and brought up to date and could be used for more outside entertainment like holding the circus there for example. We live in a time where we want to be environmentally friendly and to get to the normal venue for such things, down at the canal pitches area, most people have to drive. Northern meeting Park is a short walk from the centre which would suit bus and rail passengers. Dave D
