EXPLAINED: Highland Council's Academy Street plans and how we got here
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What are the Academy Street Plans?
Highland Council wants to stop Academy Street being used as a through road for motor traffic by blocking access at the Queensgate junction.
Traffic from the Millburn Road direction will go down Union Street and come out at Queensgate and then be diverted up Strothers Lane as will traffic from the opposite side. Vehicles coming from Church Street will travel up Post Office Avenue and be directed back along Academy Street in the direction of the A82 or via Strothers lane.
Highland Council says this will cut traffic by 75 per cent as this is the amount of vehicles using it as a through road so the city centre will become a nicer place for walking or wheeling.
Why is Highland Council doing this now?
The bottom line is that the council is skint, funding is available and it needs to do something about Academy Street. The local authority has tried and failed for about a decade to redevelop the street without success and with nothing to show for it.
The Scottish Government committed 10 per cent of the annual Transport budget to active travel by 2024/25 with the aim of reducing car kilometres by 20 per cent by 2030. To do that 15 different funded schemes, many are administered by the walking, wheeling and cycling charity Sustrans.
The Places for Everyone scheme allows local authorities to apply for cash to make active travel improvements and Highland Council has already secured £800,000 to design and consult on Academy Street.
What has happened up until now?
In November 2022 the council released and then agreed plans to proceed with the design process for what came to be known as Option B despite the consultation focussing on Option A.
In the new Option B the council claimed it had broad support for developing new plans from the public and the funding administrator about the limited potential for the original option.
So it went ahead with proposals for “motorised vehicle access restricted to deliveries, public transport and blue-badge holders to minimise the through traffic allowed to pass through the city centre.”
The reaction from businesses in the city centre was explosive as Highland Council was accused of “fraud” over the move to rid Academy Street of private vehicles without putting that directly to affected traders.
Due to the strength of feeling and also because it was part of the proposals agreed at the Inverness committee, the council held another round of engagement exercises in March and then again in June, July and August.
The first was a three day drop in session which attracted 75 business people and 256 members of the public – it resulted in 35 per cent neutral comments, 30 per cent positive, and 35 per cent negative.
The June to August engagement saw council officers email or contact more than 120 businesses directly with over 400 flyers and a stakeholder breakfast involving representatives of different groups in the city centre.
So what is all the fuss about?
Undoubtedly, the single biggest issue is the plan itself and simply stated businesses in the city centre believe it will ruin trade. They argue that the recent experiences of places like Glasgow and Aberdeen would suggest that in the short-term businesses will close.
The simple fact is that no one can prove what impact the changes to Academy Street will have – it could be to the detriment of trade or it could boost it, but no one can say categorically one way or the other, so traders ask not illegitimately – why take the risk?
The second is the process has not been perfect. The council consulted on one proposal and then supported a second back in 2022 – that bait and switch, intentional or unintentional turbo-charged frustrations in the business community.
In the first place businesses feel they have been misled by the council from the beginning but they also feel that they have been ignored – both claims have a basis in reality.
The plans did change and when they were consulted on them this year and delivered negative feedback it changed next to nothing – the council still wants to slash traffic by 75 per cent.
What about those who are for the changes?
Supporters of the scheme include disability access advocates, active travel and sustainable transport campaigners and at least one business are keen for it to go ahead. Their arguments also have merit in that there is near unanimity that Academy Street currently is not a pleasant place to walk or wheel.
Significantly disabled access advocates have argued strongly that the access points to the street particularly where to cross the road would be greatly improved in terms of ease and safety.
Highland active travel proponents say that it would improve the city centre as a place to walk and cycle but importantly as a place that would draw people in and that they say would improve business.
They argue that would get people out of cars and into shops and bars in the city centre while also providing broader positives points in societal good related to a healthier lifestyle and a healthier city environment.
While the Highland Greens back the plans on environmental grounds and that rather than closing the city centre off it would in fact open it up while also reducing significantly pollution.
So what happens next?
The council appears to have arrived at something of a D-day for the plans when they come before the Inverness city committee on Monday.
If approved it is highly likely they will proceed to a traffic order and a funding bid and if that is successful then further work including planning permission would be required.
But Eastgate bosses have vowed to pursue a judicial review of the action of Highland Council so Monday, while vital for the future of the street, will not be the end of the story.
