YOUR VIEWS: Highland Council rejects Inverness Caley Thistle battery storage plan
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'Approach to club has always been the same'
Well! Well! No surprises with Highland Council’s attitude towards ICT’s application for planning permission.
Whilst members have changed over the years, the council doesn’t seem to.
I reflect back to 1994 when the newly formed club “Against All Odds” were in pursuit of a site for developing a new stadium with more obstacles than encouragement emanating from the local authority eg 1) Proposed site at the Bught discouraged as area zoned for leisure/recreation and the club considered a “business”; 2) Possible location in the Carse area discouraged because the club is a “sports organisation”, not a business, and that area zoned for “industrial purposes”.
Fast forward to 2024: BESS proposal democratically approved, now democratically rejected.
Seems a lack of commitment to encouraging a fair proposal to help both club and community. Or have I heard incorrectly that the council itself is planning something similar?
Just saying!
Ken MacDonald
Drumdevan Place
Inverness
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‘Intimidation’ claims ahead of ICT planning decision
A number of councillors said they had felt intimidated by communications they received ahead of the meeting that saw councillors vote against approval of Inverness Caley Thistle’s proposals for a battery storage facility near Fairways business park. ICT chief executive Scott Gardiner, speaking after the decision, called claims of intimidation “nonsense”.
“How he can say it is an insult to fans when he has not seen these messages is beyond me but continuing to pit supporters of the club against councillors is never going to resolve this situation. If the application had been in an area zoned for industrial use then it would almost certainly have been approved; if the planning pre-application service had been approached this would have been crystal clear at the outset. I somewhat reluctantly supported the current application, if Caley [Thistle] were to bring forward an application in an area zoned for industrial use I’d be only too happy to support that too.” – Councillor Michael Cameron
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