New Inverness business park that would create dozens of jobs approved 'in principle'
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PLANS for a new business park just west of Inverness's southernmost access to the A9 have been approved in principle.
Applicant Hazeldene (Inverness) Ltd plans to develop a two-hectare site at the south-east corner of Milton of Leys, which when complete would result in a number of business/commercial and community buildings with a combined floor space of 3000 square metres.
Hazeldene believes that the site will create roughly 65 jobs once it is complete and fully operational – with dozens more jobs likely created in the area as a result of the financial boost the businesses will bring.
Drawings submitted by the applicant show three business-related buildings with a shared car park, which would all be accessed via the existing roundabout that sits immediately west of the A9's Milton of Leys interchange. The site would be bordered to the north by the Milton of Leys Road and to the south by existing overhead power lines.
The largest building would be a single-storey structure that would cover an area of 1200 sq m.
Two other buildings, both two-storeys tall, would each have floor spaces of 650 square metres.
Further parking and a community-related building of 500 square metres is also planned, and would use the same roundabout access.
The drawings show a total of 125 car parking spaces, split 75-50 between the business buildings and community-use site respectively.
However, as the application is for planning in principle, these figures and the layout are all indicative only, and may change – as full applications with much greater detail would still need to be lodged and approved for the various elements of the site before building work could begin.
The plan also shows that existing mature woodland on the western edge of the site would be retained. In their decision, the council planners noted that the trees – a mix of broadleaf treebelts that are up to 30 metres wide in places – appeared in the first edition maps by the Ordnance Survey in the 1860s and "so are an important long-standing landscape feature that should be retained and enhanced as part of the new development".
"The proposed development will contribute to positive economic growth for Inverness both during the construction phase and also through the operation of the businesses operating on the site promoting wider economic benefits and supporting the increase in local population," said JHazeldene in a supporting statement submitted alongside its application.
"The economic benefits of construction are well known, with considerable direct and indirect positive impacts resulting from new construction. Furthermore the proposed development will deliver economic benefits during the operational phase."
They added: "The provision of up to 3000 square metres of business and community floorspace has the potential to support c.65 gross FTE jobs once complete and fully operational.
"The operation of the proposed development could be expected to support a total of 95 net additional FTE jobs across the wider impact area, inclusive of 70 jobs in the local impact area."
Approving the plan under delegated powers, council planners said: "The proposal is considered to accord with Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan (IMFLDP)... by virtue of offering business use, with the inclusion of space for ancillary community uses.
"Although the proposal does not accord with the IMFLDP2 Proposed Plan and the intention to remove the site’s allocation, as this emerging replacement plan is yet to undergo examination, greater weight has been attributed to the site’s extant land use allocation, given that the mix of land uses proposed would be beneficial to serve the wider Milton of Leys residential neighbourhood, providing local employment opportunities and land for community uses."
Full applications will need to be submitted and approved before any work on the various buildings can go ahead.
