Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

End of an Era – Highland Council confirms Inverness Town House chamber no longer fit for purpose

Inverness Town House Photo: Fabian Junge/Shutterstock.
Inverness Town House Photo: Fabian Junge/Shutterstock.

After 140 years, and a recent £4.5million overhaul, Inverness Town House is no longer fit for its original purpose – to hold official council meetings.

The building has been home to Inverness council representatives, as well as being the seat of the Inverness provost, since 1882.

Earlier today, members of the Inverness City and Area Committee were told that from now on they will meet in the council buildings on Glenurquhart Road.

Bringing to an end the area committee’s association with the city centre building.

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the then provost Alexander Simpson, on April  15 1878.

It was designed by William Lawrie in the Gothic style, built with ashlar stone at a cost of £13,500 and was officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on January 19, 1882.

In April 2021, a £4.5million refurbishment was completed on the town house.

Council offices not photogenic

Councillor Duncan Macpherson, who represents Inverness South, said: “Today’s meeting of the City of Inverness and Area Committee was scheduled to take place in the historic Inverness Town House, for the new provost to be appointed after the recent local government elections.

Councillor Duncan Macpherson.
Councillor Duncan Macpherson.

“The date of the meeting was changed on the calendar from Friday to Wednesday, along with the venue, from the town house chamber.”

He said the council’s chief executive Donna Manson said the chamber in the town house was not suitable for modern council meetings, and area committees would now be held in the council chamber.

He continued: “Sadly this move away from the beautiful and historic town house is likely to become a permanent move away for the Inverness city and area council meetings.

“It seems such a pity if Inverness were to now lose the regular use of its famous and beautiful Inverness council chamber just because of a supposed IT or satellite video conference connection issue.

“I’m quite sure could be overcome by some suitably experienced technicians with a can-do attitude to making it work. [The move] is maybe a smokescreen for a centralising of power away from true Inverness localism and into the big Highland Council general officialdom buildings.

“In all my years, I’ve yet to see one tourist arrive in Inverness and stop to photograph the Highland Council headquarters building on Glenurquhart Road, or try the door at reception to ask to see inside the building.”

A Highland Council spokesman said: “With the move to a hybrid approach of enabling both in person and teams attendance at committees, the technology at Glenurquhart Road supports this approach whereas the technology at the town house is not able to.”

 

Conversation