Delight and despair as Councillors scrap Academy Street revamp plan

An Inverness businessman is welcoming a major revamp plan being scrapped, while a cycling campaigner feels it could've transformed the city.

Councillors voted yesterday to abandon proposals for Academy Street which involved limiting traffic and widening pavements.

This came after it was ruled Highland Council's consultation on the scheme was "unfair to and beyond the point of unlawfulness.”

Many businesses feared restricting routes would have a negative impact on the city centre, while those in favour argued it would make the area more attractive for active travel.

The project was successfully challenged in court by the owners of the Eastgate Shopping Centre and councillors voted 30-23 in favour of getting rid of the plans and revisiting the issue at a later date.

Scott Murray, who is the CEO of Cru Holdings which owns several businesses including the Imperial Pub on Academy Street, welcomed the decision.

He said: "We've demonstrated from the early days that we do believe changes do need to be made to the city centre.

"Ultimately, as has been demonstrated in Aberdeen and Glasgow with the introduction of bus gates and Low Emission Zones, cutting off major arterial routes through our city can only have a negative impact.

"Ultimately, what we need to be doing is engaging with local stakeholders.

"Cycling groups, accessibility groups, businesses, residents, tourism groups, to design a city centre that's not just going to tick green washing boxes and benefit the minority, but actually transcend to multiple demographics and really build a city centre our children and our grandchildren can enjoy for years to come."

Inverness Bicycle Mayor Emily Williams campaigned for the plans to be implemented and is disappointed, but not surprised by the outcome.

She said: "It had the potential to completely transform the city centre.

"It would've made access more equitable in terms of improving pavements, especially for people who're in wheelchairs or who have any kind of mobility impairment, Academy Street at the moment is an absolute nightmare."

"There is a limited amount of space on Academy Street and if you are going to give more space, I think the biggest beneficiary of this scheme would've been pedestrians.

"The widened pavements and making them all flat would've made a huge difference."

A Highland Council spokesperson said: "At a meeting of The Highland Council held on Thursday 19 September 2024, Members of the Council made a decision on the Academy Street project in Inverness.

"Councillors voted for an option that stops the implementation of a Traffic Regulation order and brings the Academy Street Project to an end with all Covid interventions being removed.

"The decision made takes into consideration the challenges around funding and notes the huge amount of data collected during this project which could be useful for other projects in future."