Businesses greet Highland Council plans to slash traffic from Academy Street with horror
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Highland Council has been met with a wall of objection from major city centre businesses after the local authority surprised them by seeking to slash access for private vehicles to Academy Street.
Among those who voiced major concerns about jobs, businesses, and the future viability of the city centre were M&S, Munro and Noble, Willie Gray of Ark Estates, Scott Murray of Cru Holdings, Gavin Stevenson of Mor-Rioghain Group and two of the leading business organisations in the city Inverness BID and the Inverness Chamber of Commerce.
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Gordon McIntosh, practice manager Munro and Noble, spoke for many when he described the lack of consultation as “shameful and immoral,” adding: “This is yet another body blow to a city centre business community that is already hurting from Covid, inflation, strikes, an energy crisis, fluctuating macro market conditions and staff shortages caused by Brexit. Now, it appears that we have our own elected representatives adding to the difficulties we face on a daily basis.
Inverness BID director Lorraine Bremner McBride said the organisation shares the aspiration of a “greener, healthier, more accessible” city centre but added: “The way to achieve it is perhaps not to more or less decide and then consult mainly on how any traffic restrictions will work.”
Stewart Nicol, chief executive of Inverness Chamber of Commerce, said: “While all of us have the highest possible aspiration for Inverness city centre, the process of arriving at a conclusion is really important given a wide range of views and the potentially competing priorities. This has clearly not happened with this decision.”
What they said in full
Gordon McIntosh, Practice Manager, Munro and Noble:
"As a business we were extremely disappointed to learn that Councillors had voted to proceed with excluding private cars from Academy Street. This is yet another body blow to a city centre business community that is already hurting from COVID, inflation, strikes, an energy crisis, fluctuating macro market conditions and staff shortages caused by Brexit. Now, it appears that we have our own elected representatives adding to the difficulties we face on a daily basis.
"For the city centre to have a future with sustainable ‘Active Businesses’, the pursuit of ‘Active Travel’ along Academy Street is, in our respectful opinion, flawed and damaging to the local economy.
"Closing Academy Street to private vehicles and by association the quadrangle including Union Street, Church Street and Queensgate, will have a significantly detrimental impact on the profitability of businesses located here. I have no doubt we will see more empty shops, with traders forced to move out of town.
"Since 1894, Munro & Noble has serviced both businesses and residents of the Highlands. Many of our clients are either elderly or less able, with the vast majority of these individuals not eligible for a Blue Badge. Parking in Eastgate or Rose Street and walking the 400m to our offices is not an option for them; they are often dropped off at our door and collected by their family member, or friend following their appointment. With the closure of Academy Street, these clients will be forced to secure alternate legal representation, or to park their car and take a taxi to our offices. Parking a car, then taking a taxi will only increase their carbon footprint, not reduce it.
"The long-term consequence of closing the quadrangle to private cars is obvious, clients will move their business to out-of-town firms. We know this for a fact. Since opening our Property Shop below our pre-existing legal premises in Dingwall, (free parking in Dingwall), our footfall there has increased exponentially. Feedback from clients tells us that more of them are migrating to Dingwall, because of the ease of access.
"Protecting the environment must be a priority for us all. However, there are better and more sustainable ways of protecting and supporting the fragile eco-system than spending vast sums blocking the city centre to private cars.
"My question is, where are the grants to help commercial businesses to improve insulation, upgrade the thermal efficiency of windows, install solar panels on rooftops, convert gas boilers to air-source heat pumps? None are available. Yet, there is money to create a ‘café culture’ in the most northerly city of the British Isles. As one of the oldest and most well established legal firms we take exception to a unilateral decision which will have such a negative impact upon our business.
"We have consistently vowed to remain within our building in the heart of Inverness. The lack of consultation on this option is shameful and immoral. The Scottish Government / Highland Council should be using the money, not wasting it on a scheme that will financially hurt businesses and will not reduce the city centre businesses’ reliance on energy generated by fossil fuels. I implore councillors to rethink; support your city centre, not destroy it.
Lorraine Bremner McBride, Director, Inverness City Centre Business Improvement District (BID):
"We all share the aspiration of having a City Centre space that is greener, healthier, more accessible and attractive for everyone and the Council should be commended for trying to work towards that but the way to achieve it is perhaps not to more or less decide and then consult mainly on how any traffic restrictions will work.
"Our partners at the Inverness Chamber of Commerce and the Highland Federation of Small Businesses, are working with us on this matter, as they have received the same feedback we have from members who remain extremely concerned they’ve not been consulted properly on a decision that has the potential to greatly impact them. It remains a very challenging time for businesses due to a number of economic factors and an important point to remember is that other groups do not face the same financial risk that our businesses and those who rely on them do if the scheme goes ahead and it doesn’t work out quite as well as has been promised.
"Some low traffic neighbourhood schemes work extremely well in other areas but others have been withdrawn due to having a catastrophic impact on local trade so it is important to get this right.
"One businessman asked me: would those in favour and so confident that it will be a great success be willing to bet their own salaries on it? Change is not difficult when it’s shared decision making, implemented incrementally, reliable alternatives and incentives are put in place, or if it is done at the right time and in the right way."
Stewart Nicol, Chief Executive, Inverness Chamber of Commerce:
"We have been contacted by a number of our city centre based members expressing their real concern about these proposals and there’s strong feeling around the lack of consultation on such an important change in the city centre.
"While all of us have the highest possible aspiration for Inverness city centre, the process of arriving at a conclusion is really important given a wide range of views and the potentially competing priorities. This has clearly not happened with this decision.
"Furthermore, I strongly believe such a major change in the traffic movement in the city centre can only properly be implemented in tandem with wider changes to public transport infrastructure which feeds into the city centre.
"This proposal, whilst taking most private traffic off Academy Street, will do nothing to reduce traffic around Inverness city centre and is likely to cause increased congestion and pollution. We support Inverness BID in raising concerns around this important issue and will collaborate on a formal response."
