It is not simply the roundabout which needs to be considered. The two main problems feeding into this roundabout are (1) that there is only one fly-over of the A9 bottlenecking the traffic coming from the growing eastern districts of Inverness and the southbound traffic coming off the A9, and (2) that Raigmore Hospital has only one entrance which causes huge congestion at the beginning and the end of the working day. The growing developments along the Southern Distributor road is adding to the congestion, and Asda should not have to pay for the lack of initiative in solving these foreseeable problems.

The bottleneck caused by one entrance to Raigmore Hospital contributes to the congestion at the Inshes roundabout, and I am sure the hospital authorities will welcome a solution to this problem.

The Old Perth Road outside the hospital should become one-way towards the Inshes roundabout, and the parallel Old Perth Road which is currently used for residential access to Draikies and Drummossie Avenues should be one way in the opposite direction from the Inshes roundabout. This one-way elongated roundabout would speed up traffic flow into and out of the hospital, and it should be incorporated into a complete redevelopment of the Inshes roundabout. Merely changing the traffic flow without any major restructuring of the roads would provide some immediate relief in the interim. Traffic lights are not the answer.

Other suggestions include re-opening the former turn-off from the northbound A9 which is lying unused at present. The current turn-off could be modified to incorporate a second fly-over of the A9 with the result that there are two one-way flyovers.

The Southern Distributor road is no longer a bypass of Inverness, but it is fast becoming a service route for developers. Will articulated lorries be able to negotiate the small roundabouts on this by-pass route? These small roundabouts betray that this is not a by-pass but merely a service road. We will soon need another bypass of the developments along this distributor route.

There is more to infrastructure than roads. When new houses are built, we need more places at schools, more GP clinics, more (NHS!) dental surgeries, more room for parking at Raigmore Hospital, and so forth. Planning permission should reflect this, and I am concerned that your report and your editorial state that the local authority’s local planning applications and review committee is driving “a coach and horses through the Inverness Local Plan”, echoing Ken McCorquodale, principal planner at Highland Council. A coach and horses may negotiate these small roundabouts better than the long vehicles which will soon be cluttering them.

Dr Donald Boyd, Scottish Christian Party, Rosedene Business Centre, Inverness

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