Highland’s largest community council is splitting into two in a bid to better represent its expanding population.
Inverness South has more than 6,700 residents, with numbers set to swell considerably over the next period of house building planned for the area.
The community council for the area will now split into two at Fairways in an almost straight line through the ward running to Drumossie Muir.
East of the line, the community council will be known as Inshes and Milton of Leys, while west of the line, a new community council will created known as Slackbuie.
Local councillors welcomed the move.
Councillor Andrew Jarvie said: “This is an excellent opportunity to increase democratic engagement in a growing area of the city.
“Inverness South community council has the largest population of any community council but despite the size there has always been difficulty in getting people from Slackbuie to attend meetings on the other side of the City.
“In our ward meeting, I raised exploring idea of splitting the area into two and there was an instant agreement among us that we should look into this.
“We worked with staff to find a boundary and I took this to the next community council meeting where they agreed that we should look at this.”
All Inverness South councillors then sent a survey to the affected residents, and a positive response saw the community council agree to split into two.
Councillor Duncan Macpherson said he was heartened by the enthusiasm for the idea of a Slackbuie community council.
He said: “In the survey around fifty people said they would be willing to attend, with 10 indicating they might want to stand.
“I would encourage anyone interested to put themselves forward when the nominations open on September 23.”
