Highland Council to fight legal block to street revamp

Design for a more pedestrian-friendly Academy Street

Highland Council says it will lodge an appeal against a court ruling that is preventing its planned revamp of a shopping street in Inverness.

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

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

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 has been 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 earlier this month 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".

On Thursday, the local authority issued a statement saying: "Highland Council is lodging an appeal against the judgement in relation to the judicial review that was raised challenging the council’s intention to promote changes to traffic arrangements in Academy Street."