Inverness councillors will today decide whether to invest £640,433 in place based funding on capital projects in the city.
Highland Council received nearly £2m funding from the Scottish Government’s Place-Based Investment Programme, with Inverness securing the lion’s share.
Under the funding formula applied by the council, the city received £640,433 for capital investments. The money needs to be committed by next March.
A report to Inverness area committee suggests a large contribution to the proposed all-weather sports pitch at Inverness Campus. The fund will also pick up the shortfall in funding for the Victorian Market refurbishment.
The remaining money will form a ‘challenge fund’ for investing in other projects brought forward by partners and community groups.
State-of-the art sports pitch
The £1m all-weather sports pitch is a long-held ambition for Inverness College UHI. Despite having a well-regarded health and sports curriculum, the campus and city generally suffers from a lack of high quality sports facilities.
In November 2019, the council agreed to spend £126,901 of its Town Centre Regeneration Fund (TCF) on the project. The plans received another boost this March, when sportscotland came on board with a £300k investment.
The proposal going before councillors tomorrow is to add a further £335,499 from the place based fund.
The amount is a guesstimate, based on adding 40% inflation costs from the original project budget.
Victorian Market faces shortfall
The landmark refurbishment of the Victorian Market, Market Hall and Fish Market has overspent by £50,000 and also requires an additional £200,000 contingency for challenges with engineering and services.
The council is proposing to keep funding 17% of the project through the TCF but also provide an extra £79,000 from the place based fund to cover the overspend.
Any remaining funds will be put into a challenge fund, and the committee will make an open call for submissions ahead of its next meeting.
Inverness area committee will decide on the proposed spend at its meeting tomorrow morning.
The committee features a bumper agenda, with ambitious visions for the transformation of the city and Inner Moray Firth.