Just months after being relocated, some Inverness councillors are pressing for a swift return to their historic home.
Meetings of Highland Council’s Inverness City Area Committee were moved in May from the landmark Town House to council headquarters in Glenurquhart Road.
The authority said the HQ is better equipped to support new hybrid working, with councillors attending meetings in person and online.
It looked like the end of an era for the Town House, which opened in 1882 and completed a multi-million pounds upgrade last year.
Why is a Town House return being called for?
But four Liberal Democrat councillors say a permanent move to Glenurquhart Road would risk losing city identity.
They will put a motion to the committee meeting on September 14 urging the decision is reversed.
It reads: “The venue for area committee meetings is a decision for councillors.
“The Town House has been the centre of Inverness local government for centuries and is well capable of continuing to fulfil this role.
“This committee resolves that meetings of Inverness City Area Committee return to the Town House forthwith.”
It is signed by councillors Alex Graham, Alasdair Christie, Colin Aitkin and Trish Robertson.
Alex Graham is an Inverness West councillor and the former Provost. He said: “The Town House is the historic heart of local government in Inverness.
“Our local councillors have been meeting in the chamber since 1882 and on the same site for centuries beforehand.
“If meetings move to HQ, our city identity is lost forever. It would no longer be local government.”
He said the Town House is a Common Good Fund asset and is “perfectly suitable” for meetings.
Town House in ‘fantastic condition’
“It has been used constantly for city committee meetings up until the election without any proposals to relocate.
“The council has spent £7 million of Common Good Fund renovating the Town House.
“It is now in fantastic condition and it would be astonishing to desert the building just when that work is complete.
“Any technical equipment improvements would be minor and only mirror what the council is doing in many other buildings at present.”
A Highland Council spokeswoman confirmed the motion will be discussed on September 14.
Are you interested in more exclusive and breaking Highland and Islands news from the P&J? If so, why not join our dedicated Facebook page HERE
Conversation