Cases made for Inverness City Region Deal funding

About £15m has been sought for a plan to Inverness Castle into a tourist attraction

Business cases for projects worth about £48m have been submitted for Inverness City Region Deal funding.

About £15m has been sought for a plan to turn Inverness Castle from a criminal and civil courts building into a tourist attraction.

Cases have also been made for an £11m Northern Innovation Hub and £10m to make vacant land at Inverness' Longman available to businesses.

The Scottish and UK governments will consider Highland Council's bids.

The other projects involve funding for a new University of the Highlands and Islands School of Health, Social Care and Life Sciences and a network of "science rooms" to promote learning in science and engineering.

Announced in March this year by Highland Council and the Scottish and UK governments, the £315m city region deal involves direct funding and greater borrowing powers.