A senior Highland councillor has called for a landmark Inverness building to be turned into a new city courthouse.
Inverness College’s Midmills Campus building was put up for sale last week – though no price has been set.
The historic building is the former home of the city’s oldest school – Inverness Royal Academy – and sits in 4.2 acres of land in the up-market Crown conservation area.
The main Inverness College on Longman Road and the Midmills Campus is to move to a new building at Inverness Campus under construction on the edge of the city.
Civic leaders have already suggested that the B-listed Midmills building, which dates back to 1895, could be turned into a museum and art gallery.
But one councillor told the City of Inverness Area Committee that it should be considered as a replacement for the Inverness sheriff and Justice of the Peace courts at present housed in Inverness Castle.
Councillor Ken Macleod, a solicitor, said: “We are coming to a stage when all the sheriff court closures around the north of Scotland are starting.
“Dingwall will close in February or March. Business will transfer to Inverness but Inverness is reaching saturation point.
“Midmills has the necessary presence and gravitas to be an admirable alternative court.”
Mr Macleod suggested the building could accommodate six courtrooms, sheriff chambers and other office space.
He added: “It would also keep employment in the city centre.”
Mr Macleod’s solution would have the knock-on bonus of freeing up Inverness Castle as a possible visitor attraction or home for the city’s museum and art gallery.
When it was revealed that Inverness College UHI were selling the campus for mixed use including housing and possibly an hotel, Inverness Civic Trust chairman John West said he was “disappointed” that the building had gone on sale before feasibility studies had been completed.
And he expressed a preference for the Midmills building to be used as a new museum and art gallery.
Mr West said: “The castle is an admin centre and all the space is quite dense, whereas with the old school building there are big hallways, large staircases and high ceilings.”
National property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton and local agent Shepherd Commercial are currently working with the college on marketing the building.