Inverness park sauna plan set for the green light? Highland Council officers have recommended the proposal in Bellfield Park be approved ahead of the south planning applications committee next week
Plans for a community sauna in a popular Inverness park have been recommended for approval by council officers.
Applicant Community Sauna Highland is seeking permission to erect the sauna and associated infrastructure with capacity for up to 26 people within Bellfield Park.
If approved, the sauna would be located in a corner of the park immediately to the east of the playground and south of the tennis courts. It would feature two small modular wooden buildings enclosed within a tall wooden fence and entrance gate, with plunge pools inside the enclosure.
Drawings and plans show the sauna fitting within the setting of the park’s existing trees, with none expected to be felled. A small ornamental cherry tree that currently sits out in the open in that corner of the park would also be unaffected.
The proposals have sparked significant public interest since they first emerged back in early March.
Reaction has been split, with those in favour citing an opportunity to bring the community together and improve the wellbeing of users, as well as making use of a "neglected" corner of the park, while others raised a number of concerns, including noise, parking, lack of customer toilet provision and other potential impacts.
And that range of opinions was reflected in the proportion of public comments submitted through the consultation stage - with the percentage of those in favour and those objecting split 50-50 and one other comment being neutral.
Highland Council’s south planning applications committee will now vote on the plans during their next meeting on Wednesday, June 18.
Council planning officers have recommended it be approved, although the final decision rests with councillors.
In their report to the committee, council planners said: “There has been significant public interest in this application with opinion evenly divided between those supporting and those objecting to the proposal.
“In response to the representations relating to residential amenity, the applicant has set out measures that will be put in place to minimise potential disturbance to nearby properties. The potential impact on car parking was also raised in representations, however this is a relatively small enterprise and parking services has advised that they have received no complaints in relation to parking issues around Bellfield Park.
“With both permit holders and pay and display car parking, they consider that there is sufficient car parking for both residents and visitors.
“Notwithstanding this, the applicants have indicated that part of the ethos of this proposal is to provide the sauna at an accessible location within walking and wheeling distance of a large number of the population.
“Taking into account the various elements of the [local] Development Plan that apply in this case, it is considered that the proposed small-scale sauna and associated office and changing facilities within the south-eastern corner of an established public park complies with the Development Plan.”
They added: "The park is home to a variety of different leisure facilities for all ages. A public community sauna would be considered a leisure facility, under the same 'use class' as a paddling pool, tennis courts, gardens etc.
"As such, in terms of land-use, a community sauna is considered to be a compatible and complementary land use to these existing facilities."
The report noted that there were no objections from the council's forestry, environmental or historic environment teams, or from Scottish Water.
It added that public toilets nearby could be used by sauna-goers, and that the facility would also need to secure a public entertainment licence - a condition of which requires it to demonstrate that satisfactory arrangements are in place for users to access those facilities during the sauna's operating hours.
