A popular Inverness gym is a step closer to being replaced by a bowling alley after Highland Council planners gave a proposal for the change their backing.
Hercules Unit Trust, the owners of Inverness Shopping Park, has applied to convert the Everlast Gym and Sports Direct shop into a multi-million pound entertainment centre.
The move came after the company behind the gym and sports outlet said it wanted “to vacate the premises”.
More than 200 objections have been raised about the proposal, with many furious about the prospect of losing the facility in a part of Inverness which is already lacking.
In a report, planning officer John Kelly acknowledges the strength of feeling around the application.
But he concludes that those matters are not relevant to determining the application from a planning perspective and it should be approved.
When will a decision on the gym be made?
Mr Kelly said: “It is clearly evident from the comments received by parties concerned with the potential closure of the health and fitness centre that the existing facilities are held in high regard.
“Many of the representations received have highlighted the physical health, mental wellbeing, and social benefits that the centre provides and the negative impacts that closure could bring.
“Nevertheless, these are not material planning considerations relevant to the determination of this application.”
Members of the council’s south planning committee will debate the application and make a final decision on December 12.
It will put councillors in a potentially difficult spot, similar to the one they faced about an application to build a new hotel at the Ironworks.
Like that application, this plan will result in the closure of something that is well supported in Inverness.
But the council would leave itself open to a legal challenge if it rejected it without a valid reason.
‘It’s closing down a community hub for many people’
Hercules Unit Trust has lined up Hollywood Bowl and Innoflate as the proposed new operators of the site.
The company reckons there will be 60 jobs sustained by the two businesses, a similar number to the 50 currently employed there now.
The council’s transport and environmental health teams have raised no objection to the plans, but the concerns from the public have been numerous.
Among fears about losing an important community service is also a worry that a new bowling alley will adversely affect Rollerbowl, which has been running in the city for decades.
Andrew Johns from Croy said: “Closing down Everlast Inverness is not only closing a busy gym and fitness centre, it’s closing down a community hub for many people.
“This is the only gym that is based on this side of town and removing it would add additional traffic through the already busy city at peak times.
“The proposed bowling alley would impact the already long-running local independent bowling alley and existing soft play areas within the city.
“I believe this suite brings more than fitness to this side of Inverness, it brings togetherness, mental health breaks, social networking, and safety, along with so much more.”
Gym has been a fixture in Inverness for 16 years
The gym in Inverness currently has approximately 2,300 members and 300 children take swimming lessons in its facilities.
Since opening in June 2007, it has seen a few different signs out front.
But they’ve always been connected to the same sport franchise in its different guises.
JJB Sports was the original tenant when it moved from its home on the other side of the retail park.
It became DW Sports in 2012 after JJB Sports’ financial woes and then assumed the Sports Direct title when DW entered administration themselves in 2020.
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