Details of a brand new housing development close to Inverness city centre have been unveiled.
Stewart Milne Homes has lodged a planning application to build 89 houses with associated landscaping and open spaces at Ness Castle East.
It is thought to be the north-east firm’s first foray into the Highland housing market and their proposals mark the start of a major expansion of the city to the south-west.
The Stewart Milne site sits in woodland close to Dores Road.
No one from Stewart Milne was available for comment but Alan Ogilvie, planning consultant with GH Johnston Building Consultants, said: “The site has been earmarked for development for 30 years and the owners have been trying to bring forward proposals to open up the land, and have plans for a new access road and drainage.
“It is part of a number of developments in the area which will include affordable homes on an adjoining site. Albyn Housing Society are going to build 46 homes on adjoining land.”
He said that Barratt Homes also had plans to build in the area and that all developers will share a new access road off the Dores road.
The Stewart Milne Homes development will be mainly four and five bedroom homes, with some two and three bedrooms.
The two storey properties will be aimed at the higher end of the market.
The detailed proposals for the 89 houses will be unveiled at a public exhibition on Tuesday in the Culduthel Christian Centre, Culduthel Avenue, Inverness, between 2pm-6pm.
Mr Ogilvie said: “At the public exhibition we will show the layout of the development and let people see the street plan and position of the houses.
“We will also have some drawings of the houses and the landscaping, which will show how the development sits in the wider development of the area.”
The wider Ness Castle site is earmarked for up 1,000 homes in the Highland Council’s Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan.
Developers proposing to build on the site will also be expected to make financial contributions to the expansion of local schools.
Council officials have already said that a new school may be needed in the Ness Castle area and the development plan states that land should be reserved for such a facility.