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Community at heart of plans for new Dores Road church in Inverness as planning application is lodged





New St Columba Church of Scotland site on Dores Road. Picture: James Mackenzie
New St Columba Church of Scotland site on Dores Road. Picture: James Mackenzie

Plans to build a new church in Inverness stepped forward this month, with a renewal planning application lodged with Highland Council.

St Columba Church, a congregation of the Church of Scotland formed in 2010 following the closure of St Columba High Church on Bank Street, is seeking to create a new building to serve as a place for worship as well as a community hub.

In 2018 the Church – whose members currently meet at Drummond School – bought land at Drumfield Road in Inverness and a planning application in principle was granted for the erection of a new church, however Covid hit before budget and definitive plans were available.

After two planning application renewals, St Columba’s Minister, Rev Scott McRoberts, said that an improved financial position means that the project can now progress.

He said: “Since St Columba’s in the city centre closed and we moved closer to where new housing developments were, we have been a bit invisible, however since that time the congregation has been growing with lots of families particularly. So, it has taken us quite a long time to have enough money to be thinking of undertaking a building project seriously.

“Post-covid it feels as if everybody is still experiencing that disconnection and isolation from each other, and that seems to have had an effect on us as a community, so it’s important for us to be re-establishing a space in the area. ”

And community is a vital aspect for the potential new building, which has been a project in-the-making for many years.

Because of this, Rev McRoberts said they are running a survey for the local community to be involved in how the new building would look like, and the community is invited to take a survey to tell people involved in the project what they would want from the new building.

“We don’t just want to build a place where to meet on a Sunday morning – although we’d love for people to be part of that,” he continued.

“But also we want a building that is useful to folks through the week.“

The parish covers Ness Side, Ness Castle, Lochardil, Holm as well as Slackbuie, Dores and Foyers.

“There has been a lot of churches closing down within the Church of Scotland and that has led to a change in parishes as well,” Rev McRoberts explained.

“The pandemic knocked everything back. Going from there to waiting until we had enough money in the bank – that’s why it’s been delayed. We were on the verge in 2018 but that has changed for obvious reasons.

“When we made the application previously, we had a good sense that that was going to be taken favourably. We had conversations and councillors were keen to have community facilities in this area.”

Although the project is still in the early stages and costs are yet unclear, according to Professor Ronald MacDonald, who is leading the project, building the new space could cost somewhere between £1m and £2m, and they hope that all going well the building will be ready as soon as possible (with hopes that works will start within the year).

The planning application renewal will be going through consultation on Monday, June 17 and if successful the applicant will then start looking into funding the construction of the new building.

Anyone wishing to give their feedback on how the new space can serve the community can do so via a survey page set up by St Columba’s Church.


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