New £7.4m golf course could 'boost tourism'
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A New £7.4 million golf course and club house are set to be built at Torvean, replacing existing facilities which will be destroyed by completion of the Inverness bypass.
The scheme, unveiled by Highland Council for east of General Booth Road, includes an 18-hole course, clubhouse, practice area and maintenance buildings. If planning consent is obtained it should open in 2019.
Hamish Spence, president of Torvean Golf Club, said the new clubhouse and course would be "a major improvement to the existing sporting facilities available to the local community and will provide a massive boost to tourism."
The project is conditional on the local authority receiving statutory consents to build the bypass’s west link, connecting the A82 with Dores Road with new swing bridges over the Caledonian Canal and a low level bridge over the River Ness.
The existing golf club facilities could have been replaced for £1.8 million, but the more ambitious scheme has been backed by the Scottish Golf Union.
However, it emerged yesterday that the much promised development of a multi-sports hub alongside the new golf course, while remaining an aim of the council, has been seperated from the bypass scheme. This means it will have to compete for funds with other projects from across the Highlands and could be dropped entirely by a new administration.
Planning committee chairman Councillor Thomas Prag said the sports hub plans were an "aspiration" but admitted that not even an outline sketch existed.
"We need to take a step back a little bit at the moment to say ‘okay, what is it that we now need?’," he stated.
He pointed out there were already existing sports facilities, while new ones would be created at the Inverness Campus being built at Beechwood.
"There are no funding details because we are still actually looking at what might be needed," he added. "Yes, there’s an area there that is earmarked for the sports hub but what that will now include is still very much up in the air because there are various reviews being done of what facilities Inverness already has, what it needs and where the priorities are.
"It’s not the case that we might not do it. But what it includes and what it’s for is being reviewed."
Margaret Davidson, Aird and Loch Ness Independent councillor, was taken aback by the admission. "That’s not on," she said. "I was convinced the sports hub was part of the deal. Inverness West deserves a sports hub. We can’t go pouring mega-millions into the east side of town with the Inverness Campus plans and just let the west side wither on the vine with just the golf club.
"If all the funding is not sorted we should at least have an indication of where it’s coming from and then we will have some confidence in its delivery."
Opponents of the west link believed the estimated £34.4 million cost of the road could have spiralled to more than £60 million if the sports hub was taken into consideration.
Colin Howell, the council’s head of infrastructure, said the planning application for the relocated golf course would be considered in April or May, with construction starting in spring 2016.
Council leader Drew Hendry described the west link road as "a key commitment in the council’s programme" and would greatly improve the city’s infrastructure, linking communities, reducing congestion in the city and supporting economic development.
The new road is planned to be built in two phases, starting with the moving of electricity cables this autumn. The link between the southern distributor and the A82 would be complete by 2017, while construction of a second canal bridge and roundabout on the current golf course is programmed to start in 2019.
