Sixty badly-needed new homes have been approved for Lochaber at the site of the former Lochyside Catholic school.
The joint Highland Council and Lochaber Housing Association project will feature a combination of two-storey villas, bungalows and flats offering two, three and four bedrooms – all affordable.
The 3.5-acre development will include an amenity area with a playpark and offer parking spaces for 93 cars.
The school, which relocated to a new joint campus school in Caol, will be demolished to make way for the new homes.
Fort William and Ardnamurchan councillor Andrew Baxter was the first to welcome the decision of yesterday’s south area planning committee, meeting in Inverness.
“We have a really big housing waiting list, so the social housing that will be provided on site will be really vital for families in the area,” he said.
“We’re always being told as councillors that we need more affordable housing and particularly with the prospect of more jobs being created at the Fort William smelter and people coming in from outside the area will need homes as well.”
He said Lochaber had shared the experiences of other areas of the region in recent years in a shortfall of community facilities in a period of severe austerity.
“It’s been a problem of convincing councillor colleagues in Inverness that we actually need the capital funding to finance things like sports facilities.
“That’s likely to be an argument that we have over the years ahead, to convince them that with a growing population in the Fort William area we need to take a serious look at summoning up the funding for these sort of facilities.”
As part of planning conditions, the council will seek developer contributions towards the enhancement or creation of new community facilities equating to just under £1,000 per home.
The money will go towards an indoor training and community centre beside Lochaber High School.
On a day of fierce debate about the level of such planning gain, asked if the amount was sufficient, Mr Baxter said: “How long’s a piece of string?”
