Highland Council search for contractors to begin upgrades to Inverness Travellers site

Council officials say their aim is to improve the lives of tenants residing at Longman Park.

By Michelle Henderson

March 23 2023, 2:55 pm

The Travellers site at Longman Park, Inverness, which Highland Council plan to improve. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

Works to improve a rundown Travellers site in Inverness could get started soon.

Highland Council has outlined plans to improve living accommodation for tenants at Longman Park on the banks of the Moray Firth.

The park, situated next to the city’s Caledonian Stadium, was constructed on contaminated land formerly home to the city’s refuse centre in the 1970’s.

Work to cap the land and isolate any contaminated soil was previously completed by the local authority.

Now however, further improvements are needed to secure the site’s future and the council has launched a search for contractors interested in taking on the project.

The number of tenants has already been reduced across the park to ensure the works run seamlessly.

‘The overarching aim is to improve the lives of those wishing to stay at Longman Park’

Council officials estimate the programme of improvements will be completed over three phases.

Contractors will complete the initial ground works at Longman Park by capping the remaining areas of land and laying roads and drainage, ahead of the installation 14 new accommodation units.

The units will provide a mixture of two- and three-bedroom units.

Three touring sites will also be created with utility cabins for visiting tenants as well as a community building and site office.

Families will also benefit from a new play park, which will be created during the landscaping phase of the works.

The venture is being made possible by funding from the Scottish Government Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund and the low carbon Vacant & Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP).

Up to £20 million is being awarded to local authorities through the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund until 2026, for more and better accommodation.

In a previous statement, Councillor Glynis Sinclair, Inverness City provost and housing and property chairwoman, said: “The overarching aim is to improve the lives of those wishing to stay at Longman Park and deliver on our ‘Fairer Highland’ commitments.”

Highland Council has been approached for comment.