Highland capital 'kiss of death' claim over controversial restaurants scheme
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A CONTROVERSIAL plan to turn a vacant shop at the Highlands' biggest retail park into three restaurants could be “the kiss of death” for major businesses in Inverness city centre, it has been claimed.
Proposals centering on Inverness Retail Park to convert an empty shop into a Frankie and Benny’s, Nando’s and TGI Friday’s would be detrimental to eateries in the city, according to Culloden and Ardersier councillor Roddy Balfour.
The comments apparently fly in the face of public opinion though with the plans being warmly welcomed by Ross-shire Journal readers coommenting via our Facebook page when the plans were unveiled last month.
Roddy Balfour told a meeting of the south area planning applications committee on Tuesday: “This is the kiss of death for the town centre. This concept has been raised and rejected before on the conceptual basis that there is a danger that it will create a precedent.”
He added: “There’s always been a problem with this business park. The access from the main road is not good and the parking is often over-capacity and there are cars often parked on grass verges. And the opinion locally is that this [restaurant scheme] will exacerbate it.”
However, councillors approved planning permission in principle to the parking and restaurant schemes at a meeting of the south area planning applications committee on Tuesday.
Hercules Unit Trust, which owns the Inverness Retail Park, is expected to submit a formal planning application for the schemes in due course.
The company wants to improve parking and access at the 17-unit, 240,000-sqft park.
In his report to members, Allan Todd, area planning manager for the south, said the current layout lacked safe, direct connections for walking and cycling.
He said there would be fewer car parking spaces in the changed layout.
Traffic management issues would also be considered as the proposal includes alterations to the access and flow of vehicles within the park.
At the meeting, councillors called for close scrutiny of the potential impact the expansion plan could have on city centre businesses.
Central ward SNP councillor Richard Laird said: “I think it is important that we stress the importance of a sequential test in this application, given it’s fundamental link to the Town Centre First policy and indeed the development plan for this particular site and the city centre.”
Fellow ward councillor Donnie Kerr said: “We have to make sure that these sorts of developments out of town are not actually being detrimental to the city centre.”
Mr Todd, area planning manager for south, said: “That’s certainly a legitimate issue and it’s certainly something that we will raise with the applicants. It’s certainly a case that they will have to address the Town Centre First policy and as part of that they would need to look at the implications for the city centre.”
Inverness Bid and the owners of the Eastgate Shopping Centre – the Eastgate Unit Trust – have in the past spoken out against expanding the retail park with restaurants.
They fear the out of town expansion could jeopardise plans to expand the Eastgate Centre with new shops, restaurants and a cinema.
