Highland Council lost £713k of tax payers’ money on the failed Inverness Academy Street project
Highland Council lost £713,884 of tax payers’ money on the failed Academy Street project including at least £54,173 on legal costs defending the “unlawful” scheme in the Court of Session – but this could still rise.
The figures were released following a question from Conservative group leader Ruraidh Stewart to council leader Raymond Bremner, which is due to be heard at the last meeting of the full council this year.
He asked about the “installation of the Spaces for People, the costs associated with the unlawful consultation, the subsequent legal challenge, the reinstatement of Academy Street, and any other related expenditures.”
In the response the council revealed that the Spaces for People Costs – the recently removed bollards on Academy Street was funded by the Scottish Government to the tune of £52,850.
The total cost of the Academy Street Project reached £606,861 but the cost of the hugely controversial consultation could not be separated from that figure but this too came from the government.
The council also spent £54,173.50 on Harper MacLeod up to the end of October defending itself against a legal challenge brought by the trustees of the Eastgate Centre but that “does not include any costs incurred by our in-house team”.
Depending on the final settlement of legal costs it is understood that this bill could still rise dramatically, and could even double if the Eastgate was awarded costs.
Finally, the cost of the removal of the bollards is “still being collated as this work was only recently undertaken” so there was no price tag available.
The scheme was ditched by administration councillors who persevered with it for almost exactly a year after approving it despite an overwhelmingly negative response from city centre businesses.
The council proposed two versions of the plan but then opted for a third, outraging many who took part in the consultation, that would have cut traffic movements on the central thoroughfare by more than 70 per cent overnight.
Ultimately, the Eastgate’s legal challenge led to Lord Sandison labelling the project “unlawful” making it highly unlikely that it could secure funding to complete it and councillors voted to discontinue it.
