Future of Highland Council's controversial Academy Street plans hangs in balance
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Two options on the future of Academy Street will be presented to Inverness councillors on Monday: proceed with the controversial plans to cut traffic down to 2000 vehicles per day – which could lead to a legal challenge – or scrap the £7.5 million plan and remove the bollards placed during the pandemic.
Highland Council officials want to slash vehicles going through the city centre by up to 75 per cent admitting the “proposed design will result in disruption to private car users”.
Businesses have repeatedly and consistently warned that level of change would threaten trade.
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There were some apparent inconsistencies in an official report published yesterday as members are recommended to approve “appropriate equalities and economic impact assessments”, which businesses have been crying out for.
Yet later in the same paper when assessing the Inverness BID meeting and calls for an economic impact assessment, officers state that the adopted process “does not seek such information”.
They continued that “it is generally considered that such a significant scale of inward investment to the city centre for major public realm enhancement will bring positive benefits for the city centre’s economy”.
Beyond that statement, no other evidence is provided for the improvement or the harm to the economy despite the disruption that the major changes to the main artery through Inverness would entail.
Nor did officers mention how Julian Diamond, from Scoop Asset Management which runs the Eastgate Shopping Centre, warned that if councillors give the go-ahead then the company would seek a judicial review.
Council officials have warned of the “potential for reputational risk” due to the climate emergency, if the plan is scrapped.
Inverness BID disputes claims made by the council that it sought to put businesses in the "driver's seat" through engagement and consultation.
BID director Lorraine MacBride said: “We are extremely disappointed that the voice of the significant number of businesses who have raised questions and concerns in respect of the current proposal are again being sidelined and ignored and that our event held at Eden Court has resulted in zero amendments to the current proposal.
“The 75 per cent of our survey respondents who indicated that they are either ‘dissatisfied’ or’ very dissatisfied’ with the information and consultation process undertaken to date by Highland Council may be surprised to learn that they are and have been ‘in the driving seat’.
“To continue with these plans which have not in terms of Option B or the current inception ever been subject to proper consultation to any real or satisfactory extent, with no independent City Centre economic impact assessment specific to Inverness City Centre having been undertaken and without a trial in the first instance just demonstrates a complete disregard for those who may be in favour change but who have never been given a reasonable opportunity to fully explore and propose alternative solutions.
“We would encourage any business or member of the public who still wants to have a say to complete the survey via the link: Have Your Say Today - Proposed design Academy Street Proposals.
