More than £2.6million was spent on plans to build a new prison and justice centre in Inverness before a single brick was laid, it can be revealed.
And hundreds of thousands of pounds of the taxpayers money was shelled out on proposals for the city projects which were later ditched.
Figures released to the Press and Journal show that a £2.2million bill was racked up developing the plans for a new courts complex in the Longman area of the Highland capital.
The justice centre scheme, which is to be the first of its kind in Scotland, won planning approval last January and demolition work got under way at the site over the following weeks.
But then it was announced in June that the V-shaped design had been scrapped and that a new planning application would be lodged.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), which secured backing for a revised single linear building in September, said it was “not feasible to separately identify costs” for developing the two designs but revealed that the total was £2.2million.
That bill represented almost 10% of the £23million total cost of the development, and dwarfed the £467,000 spend to date on drawing up plans for the new £66million HMP Highland.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS), which was able to provide a breakdown for its costs, produced figures showing that only roughly half of the money – £236,369 – was spent on the proposal which was approved “in principle” in October for a site next to the city’s main retail park.
A further £166,378 had already been spent developing ill-fated plans to build the replacement for 112-year-old Porterfield jail at Milton of Leys, before they had to be abandoned in 2016 amid furious protests from local residents.
Prior to that, £43,559 was spent by the SPS on looking at a site at the old Longman dump, there was a £2,700 cost to investigate the Beechwood Farm location, and another £18,000 on general site selection.
However, unlike the justice centre, which is under construction, the new jail has only received planning permission in principle, with detailed proposals for the 200-inmate facility now being developed ahead of work starting next year.
City councillor Ken Gowans said: “In order to get plans to a stage where they can be considered there is obviously a cost to that, but it does seem like an inordinate amount of money for the justice centre.
“And I think it might have been useful for the SPS to listen at an earlier stage to the residents of Milton of Leys as they probably ended up spending more money than they needed to.
“In this case it has probably cost the public a great deal more than it should have done.”
An SCTS spokesman said: “The total estimated spend on the design fees and costs to take the scheme from an initial feasibility proposal to a final architectural design solution for the Inverness justice centre, which incorporates all the requirements of the partner organisations and includes submission for full planning permission, was £2.2million.
“This included all costs relating to the planning application submission to Highland Council.
“The new design addresses planning concerns, makes more efficient use of accommodation and provides attractive public space along with improved access via a drop-off area, additional parking and disabled spaces.
“The justice centre will play a pivotal role in changing victims’, witnesses’ and offenders’ experience of the justice system, while providing high quality secure criminal courts, and flexible accommodation for civil courts and tribunal users.”
