Mr MacGregor, of Bogbain Farmhouse, had complained to the ombudsman about the conduct of Highland Council planning officials over the event which will showcase the best in housing design, innovation and technology on a green wedge site at Balvonie Braes.

It followed an e-mail obtained by The Inverness Courier suggesting officials had made up their minds about the application before the start of a public consultation exercise — in the e-mail to another planning officer, case officer Nicola Drummond said although the application was contrary to plan, the council was "obviously going to approve it given the background".

With the ombudsman's investigations now finished, Mr MacGregor has been given the draft report which, once finalised, will be sent to the Scottish Parliament.

It states that 11 specific complaints have been investigated, none of which were upheld.

However, Mr MacGregor is rejecting the findings and is now considering taking the matter to the Court of Session for a judicial review.

Mr MacGregor has accused the ombudsman of trying to take the heat off the council by blaming postmen for the loss of vital correspondence affecting the issue.

In a letter to the ombudsman he stated: "I am glad to see that you accept that the case officer (Nicola Drummond) failed to deliver the initial statutory consultation letter dated 20th November, 2006, to Inverness South Community Council and also failed to deliver an amendment dated 1st December, 2006. Can you now agree that this represented a high degree of maladministration?

"There has been speculation as to whether or not this important mail was ever posted. Was it simply binned in the planning department to frustrate community consultation and save the case officer some heavy extra consultation workload? For reasons best known to yourself, you chose to believe that both letters were probably lost by the Post Office. One letter might be lost. Yes, possible. But two, from the same planning office that demonstrated its reluctance to engage in community consultation? Unbelievable.

"In total, there is a record of four instances of letters going astray or being neglected to benefit and lighten the workload of the case officer and her team. The integrity of the Highland Council Planning Department is in tatters."

Earlier this year, it emerged that taxpayers handed Inverness building firm Tulloch Homes a profit when land on the outskirts of the city was sold to the organisers of the fair.

Tulloch Homes bought around 40 acres of agricultural land at Balvonie Braes for £850,000 and sold it with one extra acre nine months later to the council-funded Highland Housing Alliance for £1,350,000.

Barrie Haycock, chairman of Planning Watch UK, said he was outraged by the way the Balvonie Braes project had been handled.

"I think the whole affair is a complete disgrace and indicates the contempt which the Scottish Government and the Highland Council demonstrate to the community and the planning process in general," he said.

The ombudsman's office has told Mr MacGregor that the draft report is to give him an opportunity to draw attention to any mistakes or factual errors before the final version is sent to the Scottish Parliament.

The letter said if significant changes were made to the conclusions in the draft, he would be given another chance to comment on the factual aspects of the changes.

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