Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

West Link critic calls for project to be put on hold after Audit Scotland criticism

John West, of Inverness Civic Trust
John West, of Inverness Civic Trust

West Link Road critic John West, of Inverness Civic Trust, said the council should put the project on hold in light of the Audit Scotland report.

The lack of regular updates on the cost of the controversial project was specifically criticised by the financial watchdog.

Mr West said: “It seems a long time since I did a report to Audit Scotland drawing their attention to the matters which they have now incorporated.

“It has taken time, time which unfortunately Highland Council, have used to press forward in the face of overwhelming public opposition.

“The criticisms range across the board from the actions of the council in deliberately ignoring national guidelines, the executive for being either unaware or patronising in their assumption of power and councillors for refusing to bring the scrutiny to bear on this project.

“What is outwith the ambit of Audit Scotland is to ask why this scrutiny was absent, but the public are aware of the reason.

“So many councillors owe their continued position to the slavish adherence to party policy, that party has taken precedence over the public good.”

He said that the council officials had “ignored” requirements to review capital projects.

He added: “The trust have continually stated that the saving of the environmental assets of Inverness would be best served with a bridge or a tunnel and that a reasoned assessment of the costs and benefits of such alternatives should and must be implemented.

“The council and the executives’ dictatorial attitudes demand that this assessment is carried out by a truly independent body, which would have the confidence of the people of Inverness.”