Hotel plan for former care home in Inverness

A FORMER care home in the city could be converted into a 32-room hotel/guest house as developers seek to meet the recent soaring demand for visitor beds in the summer.

Fairfield Care Home in Fairfield Road closed in 2018 after being served with an improvement notice by the Care Inspectorate.

And now Inverness Property Management has applied to Highland Council for planning permission to transform it.

In a supporting statement the applicant’s agents said: “The significant rise in visitor numbers to the Highlands and Inverness in particular has seen a rapid increase in the demand for tourist bed spaces.

“The Fairfield Road area is relatively close to the city centre and there are already more than 20 guest houses or B&B establishments between the junctions with Kenneth Street and Hawthorn Drive.”

The proposed conversion may involve securing a table licence.

Highland Council has advised that “while the re-use of the building is to be welcomed, this has to be balanced with the impact of such a commercial use on a predominantly residential area”.

The care home had four parking spaces, but it is hoped to create 14 spaces by using ground to the rear as well as close to the main access to the front. The latter will involve the removal of three “over-mature coniferous” trees which are “significantly blocking out light to the property on account of outgrowing their position”.

There is also unrestricted on-street parking in Lochalsh Road and Fairfield Road, say the applicants.

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