Council scraps planned Inverness street revamp

Highland councillors have decided to scrap a planned redesign of one of Inverness' busiest city centre streets.

The proposals for Academy Street, which include limits on private vehicles, were successfully challenged in court by the owners of the city's Eastgate Shopping Centre.

A judge ruled that Highland Council's consultation on the plan was unlawful and the impact on businesses had not been considered.

The local authority had said it would lodge an appeal, but on Thursday councillors agreed to abandon the proposed revamp.

Economy and infrastructure committee chairman Ken Gowans said stepping back from the scheme was the right thing.

He told BBC Scotland News: "This could have been handled a lot better by all parties, not just the council.

"It is meant to benefit everyone so I think this is a time for reflection and from that we need a new mindset where people can begin to think about what is it we need, how do we achieve that and how can we project Inverness in a positive light?"

During Thursday's meeting, Inverness councillor Duncan Macpherson asked why it had taken so long to reach a decision to scrap the plan following concerns from businesses about the impact of the redesign.

Councillors had voted in September to push ahead with the redesign to make the street more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly.

A 70% reduction in traffic was proposed.

But in a legal challenge brought to the Court of Session, trustees of the owners of Eastgate Centre argued that a proper consultation was not held on the plans.

In a judgement, Lord Sandison upheld the challenge, but said Highland Council did not have a "subjective intention" to run an unfair consultation exercise.

He said it may only have been with the benefit of hindsight that it was possible to see where and how it went "awry".