Inverness councillors have called for further assessment before they sanction the allocation of £1.5m from the city’s coffers to the re-design of the Victorian Market.
The councillors reached a rare consensus at yesterday’s City of Inverness committee meeting, saying there was not a sufficient business plan and economic impact assessment to convince them to earmark the money at this stage.
They demanded a meeting to discuss the plans in more detail, and for the business case to be brought back to them in their November meeting.
The vision, already agreed by Victorian Market Stakeholders, is to remove all the existing units and facilities and create a modern open market, with later opening hours, restaurants, cafes, new offices and toilets.
The design team was appointed earlier this year and so far have a budget of £25,000 for a feasibility study.
An early estimate of cost of the transformation is around £1.5m, and the request for the money to be allocated upfront left the councillors uneasy.
Council leader Margaret Davidson said: “What we have is not a business case, it’s a description of what we might like to do. We all want to see the market thrive and be a nice place to visit, modernise and move into the future, but allocating the money at this point is a step too far.”
Councillor Andrew Jarvie referred to the recent highly charged special meeting called to discuss the controversy around lack of transparency in the My Ness riverside art project, and said he didn’t want a repeat of that.
He said: “We need to take this carefully.
“I am not comfortable spending £1.5m to make the market look nice, it needs to make money.
“We need figures which will justify rent increases and create a financial return.”
Chairwoman of the Victorian Market Stakeholders, councillor Isabelle Mackenzie said: “Nothing has been set in stone. I will not be allowing anything to be spent unless it is agreed.”
Councillor Ron MacWilliam said he had received no answers to his questions about lack of heating in the halls.
He said: “I cannot believe that a request for £1.5 m was put before councillors in the absence of a formal business plan.
“The Victorian Market needs serious investment but that investment needs to be based on substantiated research.
“So far there’s a proposal to put a high-end food hall in a massive unheated space.”
Committee chairwoman, Inverness provost Helen Carmichael said there were too many questions and not enough answers, and asked the design team to come back with a report in November.