Velodrome will not be a ‘high priority’ for Highland Council’s cross party Inverness East Sports Facility Working Group because it would be too specialised
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A new velodrome for Inverness is unlikely to be a priority for a council working group looking into new sporting facilities for the city.
The news follows an announcement at the weekend that HiVelo, which had been campaigning for such a facility, had abandoned its plans due to a lack of funding.
Earlier this week Councillor Duncan Macpherson claimed that Highland Council’s cross party Inverness East Sports Facility Working Group could resurrect the plan if the cash could be secured.
However, Councillor Ken Gowans, who is the working group’s chairman, has said that such a facility would be a very low priority because it would be a very specialised amenity.
He said the working group was at a very early stage and added: “But a velodrome isn’t high on our list of priorities at this time.”
Cllr Gowans said they would be carrying out research and consultation with residents to find out exactly what was needed and there was a “glaring lack of infrastructure” in the east of Inverness.
He said: “Right now, especially when money is tight, we have to think of our priorities. The velodrome is a completely different project to what we are doing.”
Last summer optimism was high that a site near Inverness Campus would be perfect for the project which had an ambition for it to simply get more people riding bikes more often.
It had been hoped the project – centred on an indoor 200m velodrome – would have been open in autumn 2023.
But the ground-breaking HIVELOHUB project has been abandoned further to a recent Highland Velodrome Trust meeting.
Trust secretary Mike Greaves said: “Sadly, our lengthy discussions to secure a large block of ‘foundation’ grant assistance for HIVELOHUB from the national sports agencies – principally sportscotland – have not been successful.
“The trustees could not be more disappointed with this outcome, but we need to be realistic about its impact on HiVelo itself. Plainly, our founding mission is now untenable.”
A spokesman for sportscotland said: “We have been engaged in discussions on the HiVelo project for some time now.
“However, we continue to have concerns over the demand for and financial viability of the full proposal.
“Any future capital contribution would also need to be considered in the context of any Highland-wide facility investment plans.
“We will continue to work with our partners to develop and support proposals which meet demand and locally determined investment priorities.”
