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.

POLL: Do you support Highland Council’s planned changes to Academy Street?

Have your say on Highland Council's plans to restrict vehicle access to Academy Street. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson
Have your say on Highland Council's plans to restrict vehicle access to Academy Street. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

Determining what the future of Academy Street in Inverness should look like is shaping up to be a prickly issue.

Councillors voted narrowly by a margin of 12-10 to approve changes that will drastically reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

Since that decision on November 24, a few things have happened.

Several businesses claimed they had not been properly consulted about the changes and intimated their intention to lodge a legal challenge.

A visualisation showing what Academy Street could look like. Image: Highland Council

Amid growing criticism that the plan would cause gridlock on other busy Inverness roads, Highland Council issued a statement.

It said the other routes affected would be able to handle any redirected traffic and the city was not going to “grind to a halt”.

And earlier this week, supporters of the proposal outlined why they think it’s a great opportunity to revitalise Inverness.

How will Academy Street change?

The plan centres around banning through traffic from using Academy Street.

Blue badge holders, public transport and people making deliveries will all still be able to use the road.

But anyone not in those categories trying to get from one end of the city centre to the other using the major thoroughfare will not.

There are currently around 8,500 to 9,500 cars, vans, lorries and buses on Academy Street every day.

Map of Inverness, with the roads which will handle redirected traffic highlighted in yellow. This includes the A9 between Raigmore Interchange and Longman Roundabout, Longman Road, Bank Street, Harbour Road, West Link A8082 and Southern Distributor Road A8082.
A map showing Inverness roads that will take some extra strain once the changes come into force. Image: Roddie Reid/DC Thomson

Analysis of the traffic has shown that 50% of these vehicles are using the street as a through route – rising to 75% in the morning rush hour.

The initial consultation on the plans brought positive results.

Feedback from the online portal set up for it showed that 68% of 521 responses viewed the plans favourably.

However, Inverness Bid – an organisation which represents the interests of hundreds of city businesses – is among those who have raised concerns.

What do you think about Academy Street plans?

Our own stories have attracted a lot of comments and discussion on our social media channels.

Numerous councillors, businesses and people who live and work in Inverness city centre have offered opinions.

Now we’re looking for you to have your say.

With one side claiming the public are behind this move and the other saying people weren’t properly consulted, it makes sense to ask the question.

Vote in our poll below and send any additional comments you have to stuart.findlay@pressandjournal.co.uk

Conversation