As the potential prospect of Highland Council breaking up into numerous tiny pieces looms on the horizon, it may be time for the region’s only city to make a big gesture to unite the clans.
For as long as anyone can remember, Inverness has been regarded as the capital of the Highlands.
It has the largest population in the north by a long way.
And for that reason, it makes sense that Highland Council’s headquarters are there.
But as swathes of the rest of the north of Scotland flirt with the prospect of going their own way, maybe it’s time for a small change to sweeten the pot.
Here is our in-depth – but definitely hypothetical – look at the options.
A north coast contender
OK, let’s be serious for a second.
Highland Council, like pretty much every local authority, is up to its eyeballs at the moment.
We’ve become very used to talk of cuts and budget black holes.
That means there is absolutely no prospect of a new shiny HQ popping up in another town.
But being the capital is mainly symbolic, right?
You’d have to assume so, given that Scottish council capitals aren’t actually an official thing.
So why not let another town have a pop as a gesture of goodwill and togetherness?
Caithness councillor Matthew Reiss has a suggestion.
He joked: “There’s a popular saying up here that says the further south you go, the denser the population is.
“As a result, I think that since it’s on the north coast, Castletown is the obvious choice.
“There’s a disused airfield just outside the village. I’m sure the Scottish Government would be happy to invest in that to give us a new airport.”
‘Let Inverness be the capital of Inverness’
Sutherland councillor Jim McGillivray is on board with changing things up too.
He’d much rather let Inverness have its own city council, and have the rural Highlands manage themselves.
Councillor McGillivray said: “I am content to let Inverness be the capital of Inverness.
“But let’s have the administrative centre of the rural Highlands be relocated to the dignified and architecturally imposing building at Drummuie, ‘neath the shadow o’ Beinn a’ Bhragaidh and Golspie’s Lordly Stane.”
It’s not entirely clear when Inverness’s emergence as the defacto capital of the Highlands happened.
But it was a long time ago.
Digging back through the archives, we found a mention of it in the Scots Magazine as far back as 1775.
Although the way the magazine put “capital of the Highlands” in quotation marks did sort of suggest that they didn’t really believe it.
Is it Ardersier’s time to shine?
There is a precedent for changing a capital too.
Nigeria and Kazakhstan both did it on a much larger scale as recently as the 1990s.
Maybe Highland Council could even follow the example of countries like Canada and Australia, and pick a capital that is geographically between its two largest settlements.
Since Nairn is the second biggest town in the Highlands, I guess that would make the new capital… Ardersier?
Of course, the cheapest and most likely option is just to leave everything the way it is.
In any case, the people of Inverness may not react well to giving up their long-held crown.
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Drew Hendry is one person who is not convinced by the prospect.
He said: “Recognising Inverness as the capital doesn’t detract from the unique identity of communities across the region.
“Our city, even when it was technically a town, has been described as the capital of the Highlands for longer than anyone left alive can remember.
“I’m not sure what it would take convince anyone that says otherwise. But they may just be a couple of hundred years late in complaining.”
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