An underground car park was one of the ideas considered yesterday at a meeting aimed at improving Nairn town centre.
Business people and residents packed out the Court House and shared their views on issues such as car parking, repairing high street buildings, the layout of streets and open spaces and the types of shops and services that might improve the town centre.
A second session today will focus on how much the improvements might cost.
Highland Council will use the information gathered from the workshops to draw up an action plan, which will eventually be put to a team of specialist designers and surveyors from urban design company CHM2 Hill.
Clive Rowland, who lives in Nairn with his wife Fiona, said one of the most obvious problems was that buildings on the high street were being neglected.
He also said a shortage of parking spaces was causing local people to drive out of town for their shopping, and that a proper bus car park was needed to provide a suitable drop off point for tourists.
Mrs Rowland said: “I would like to see an underground car park, the top of it could be landscaped so that it fits in with the surrounding area, but that will depend on the cost.”
Duncan Whatmore , an urban planning consultant for CHM2 Hill, said: “Parking is an issue.
“Underground car parking is plausible, it has been used in other places around Europe where the land use value is high. Striking a balance between improving car parking and getting the right developments in place will be crucial.
“What we are trying to do is not come up with a proposal but help the people here focus all of their thoughts so that we can come up with a strategy.”