A community group on the Black Isle has secured planning permission for the first phase of ambitious proposals to transform a former ticket office.
Highland Council planners have approved a bid to bring the long-closed terminal in North Kessock back into use.
The £100,000 first stage of the project will involve reinstating the public toilets at the site and turning the former ticket office into a community space.
The group also has a longer term £600,000 vision to create a tourist attraction based around a wildlife viewing area aimed at bringing in dolphin spotters.
The ticket office has been owned by Highland Council but a process is under way to transfer it to the community group for a nominal fee of £1.
The North Kessock Ticket Office Project group also began the search for a contractor to take on the work refurbishing the long derelict building earlier this month.
The first job for the group will be to instal electricity, heating, toilets and other infrastructure.
Project chairwoman Maggie Macdonald said: “It’s a good feeling. It’s all go at the moment, and it’s great.
“We’re still waiting for the council to hand it over to us for £1. Then it has got to go to the lawyers. We’re also going to lease part of the car park for a seaside garden.
“We’re hoping work will start in the next four months. We can start getting it up and running, electricity and water. Do the inside of the building and get the toilets back in use.
“We haven’t got the money yet for the big project, we’re still looking for funding.”
The building was used for many years as the ticket office for the ferry which sailed the firth between North and South Kessock.
After the Kessock Bridge opened in 1982 it was used by the local lifeboat crew but it has now been closed for several years.
Approving the scheme under delegated powers, local authority planning officials said it accorded with the development plan and there were “no material considerations which would warrant refusal of the application”.
