Plans to build a new £23million justice centre in Inverness will be lodged with the local authority next month.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed last night that it was aiming to submit the planning application by mid-November.
The Scottish Government and senior sheriffs have hailed the proposal as providing a “benchmark” for the rest of the country.
The new building, off Longman Road, will feature six courts and provide a base for almost all local public sector workers involved in the field of criminal justice, as well as a link to the Burnett Road police station next door.
It is expected to be opened by 2019 and will pave the way for the return of the high court to Inverness, which was controversially removed amid a shake-up in 2013.
The move will also enable Inverness Castle to be transformed into a revamped tourist attraction once the court service vacates the site.
Highland Council revealed last month that it had a lodged a £15million application to the Scottish and UK governments for the castle scheme, with the project to be one of the first earmarked for funding from the £315million Inverness City Region Deal.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service hope that the justice centre will win approval by March, with the building work pencilled-in for completion in December 2018, in advance of an official opening in early 2019.
A public consultation on the plans was held in the city centre in August.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said he believed it would be an “iconic building” for the city, and provide a model for all Scottish courts in the future.
The Longman gateway into the city is expected to transformed in the next few years.
As well as the justice centre, pans have also been lodged to bulldoze nearby derelict railway buildings to make way for a new £2million food distribution warehouse.
About 100 new jobs could be created if the proposal for an 11,000sq ft facility is approved for old storage buildings at Needlefield, near the Kwik Fit garage on Longman Road.
Bosses at Inverness College UHI said they had no update on the future of its former headquarters at Longman Road, however, with the building having been empty for more than 14 months.
