Highland councillors approve proposal for business park
Fifty-year-project beside Inverness airport receives go-ahead
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Plans for a huge business park beside Inverness Airport, promising to create thousands of jobs, has been approved by Highland councillors after a bitter row in which a senior planner was accused of favouring the developer.
The 50-year project promises 1,250 jobs within its first phase over the next decade, with the rest to follow in a complex featuring hotels, industrial units, restaurants and shops.
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey planning committee voted 10-5 to approve the plan subject to planning conditions.
These range from the submission of a detailed masterplan for the entire project, to street lights being installed at the developer’s expense at two nearby road junctions.
Senior planner Ken McCorquodale told councillors the park would not be reliant on separate proposals for a new town at neighbouring Tornagrain, but suggested the SNP government’s pledge to dual the A96 between Inverness and Nairn “at some time in the future” was key to the project. He stressed that, while his report on the proposal said the council had no financial interest in the application, it had lent the applicant – which was involved with the largely publicly funded project to build the airport link road – £1.25million for that work.
Mr McCorquodale said it had been “difficult” for transport engineers to assess the long-term traffic impact. He said locals wanted to see “growth and development” and that no land within the site was regarded as “prime, class one or two land”.
Opposing the application from Inverness Airport Business Park (IABP), Culloden and Ardersier councillor Roddy Balfour claimed it would “stultify an area of 550 acres for an indeterminate period”. He said the 50-year timescale of the project was reminiscent of “a stupid and irresponsible device used by mediaeval barons” intent on retaining land for their descendants.
His ward colleague, Labour’s John Ford, argued that the economic potential of the development was “paramount” and that the project could be “tastefully done”.
Inverness South member Jim Crawford questioned the accuracy of claimed “community support” for the project and said he had never seen “such a biased report in favour of the applicant”.
Intervening, committee chairman Jimmy Gray cautioned him, saying he was entitled to his opinions but should not bring into question the judgment of council officials.
Urging colleagues to support the plan, council convener Sandy Park said the authority should “welcome development” to show the region was “open for business.”
Celebrating the verdict, IABP chairman Alan Price was optimistic work on vital infrastructure would begin this year.
“It is a long-term project that will generate thousands of jobs and many millions of pounds for the local economy,” he said.
“Our vision is one of a high-quality, sustainable development capable of being integrated with the airport and the wider landscape.”
Speaking afterwards, Inverness South Labour councillor John Holden said he was “disgusted” with the decision. He added: “Our job is to ensure we get development that is in the interests of the whole of the Highlands, not pipe dreams driven by developers.”
Mr McCorquodale said: “The council have gone out to the community many times and consulted them. The community’s ideas are backing those plans. I’m content that the planning process is very much working.”
Ardersier and Petty Community Council had objected along with neighbouring Croy and Culloden Moor Community Council, whose chairman Bruce Strachan warned that the area would be transformed “into a building site for the next 20 to 30 years”.
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