‘It should be a city to be proud of’ - development plans for Inverness come together at Town House event
An event bringing together representatives from major development projects in Inverness was hailed as a “great success”.
Members of the public could enter the Town House for a drop-in session during which some of the main initiatives and investments happening in and around the Highland Capital were showcased.
Teams from the Inverness Castle Experience project, Inverness City Region Deal, Highland Housing Alliance, Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport, Sustrans and many more were in attendance to provide more information on the progress and development of the many projects, providing an overview of potential growth in Inverness.
Inverness City Leader, Cllr Ian Brown said: “Most councils you have strategies, plans and visions, and people know parts of it, so it’s very important to bring the best of it together.
“We are looking to form partnerships so we can deliver more projects for the city and surrounding area.There’s a lot of opportunities out there.”
“I think often we forget what’s been delivered. You’ve got the obvious one, Inverness Castle, and then Northern Meeting Park, the Riverside, and Whin Park will hopefully been finished by Easter, to name a few.
“As a city, we’ve had a huge amount of money spent on these projects, but we tend not to appreciate what we have.”
When asked about the recent failure of the revamp project for Academy Street, he said: “Academy Street is the only thing that hasn’t gone to plan to the same extent. Obviously, I am personally very disappointed that it didn’t work out, but we need to move on, and there are still lots of opportunities in the area .”
“It is about improving the city for visitors and residents - it should be a city to be proud of.”
He said that they are also hoping to bring people back to using public transport given the issues experienced in recent years.
He said: “I have had no complaints at all about the Highland Buses, and we are aiming to expand the network in the future.”
The event comes as part of an effort to provide an overview of growth and development initiatives happening in the city.
To track them, Highland Council published a Inverness Strategy ‘StoryMap’, which details all the major city projects planned up to 2030 - including transport, housing, hotels and active travel.
Matt Bailey, programme manager for Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal said it was a very positive event.
“What some people said when I spoke to them today was that they felt that the deal was very Inverness-centered. That is, to an extent a perception, but when you look at the actual projects that are being delivered, some of them will benefit people across the region, such as affordable housing, and Science Skills Academy - that’s gone to virtually every school across the region.
“Infrastructure development such as the A9/A96 junction - this will benefit people from across the region who travel through Inverness.”
A report on the city-region deal was published earlier this month, and Mr Bailey said that most projects are on track to be delivered by 2027 - or have already been delivered.
Gail Matheson, CEO of the Highland Housing Alliance (HHA) also said the event was a helpful way to let more people know about HHA and what they do to help address pressures on the housing market.
