Inverness hot food takeaways plan gets green light from Highland Council
Plans which could see two new hot food takeaways open in Inverness have been approved by council planners.
Applicant, J. P. and A. Headon, had sought permission from Highland Council to subdivide Unit 3 at 2 Henderson Road into two hot food takeaways, with a storage unit to the rear.
The site is the former home of Pagazzi Lighting and is currently used as a 'pop-up' shop by New Start Highland.
The plans had sparked no objections, although Crown and City Centre Community Council had flagged existing congestion issues for vehicles turning out of the car park into Henderson Road.
The street is a known congestion hot-spot, with lengthy queues of vehicles waiting at traffic lights to turn into Longman Road - especially at rush hour.
And while it did not object to the proposed development, the community body did highlight that "some serious concerns were voiced by several members" over the additional traffic the takeaways might generate, and had asked for the current traffic situation to be "taken into consideration" when the council made its decision.
Highland Council planners have now approved the application under delegated powers.
Making their decision, they said: "The site’s location is within a large general industrial and mixed use area where there are limited food and drink premises, is unlikely to be considered as a ‘destination’ and will instead likely cater for employees and visitors in the locality.
"Consequently, it is unlikely that the suggested use would raise any issues of significance in terms of impact or conflict with similar uses operating in or near the city centre."
Addressing concerns over traffic on the busy access junctions, they added: "The access to the site will be the same as existing and considered acceptable.
"The Crown & City Centre Community Council has raised concerns regarding increased traffic. Transport Scotland has no objections to the application.
"It can be considered that the proposed development will not substantially increase traffic at this junction and could be anticipated that a takeaway could serve the local working population during the day, out with the busiest time of the day."
It is not known what the application might mean for the future of the New Start Highland pop-up shop.
Approval of the takeaways plan does not necessarily mean an imminent move is on the cards for New Start. It's also possible the permission is being sought simply to broaden the location's appeal to potential tenants - opening the scope to takeaway chains as well as retailers - rather than because of any firm offers from businesses or intentions from the applicants.
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