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.

Bank Street will not reopen to help fire traffic problems

Academy Street re-opens in Inverness
Academy Street re-opens in Inverness

Reopening Inverness’s riverside early to help ease traffic problems caused by the Academy Street fire has been ruled out.

Highland Council had considered reopening Bank Street to traffic as one way of easing queues caused by the closure of Academy Street following last week’s fire.

But the authority has said this will not happen because unduly delay the completion of the flood alleviation works and seriously affect bus timetables.

At present public transport and emergency vehicles are allowed to use part of Bank Street, although the area is closed to general traffic.

A spokeswoman for the council said: “Opening up Bank Street would have increased traffic flow and impact on the bus timetables without any considerable benefit.

“The fire impact was considered and taking into account the priority to get the flood works finished, the option of opening it would have obviously effected the completion date.”

Bank Street is currently scheduled to reopen on May 22.

In an effort to encourage people into the city centre, the council are continuing to reduce fees to 20p for the first two hours of parking at the Rose Street multi-storey for the first two hours, although motorists are then charged full price.

Roadworks due to start earlier this week at Millburn Road have also been postponed again until May 4 because of the city centre situation.

No date has been put on Academy Street reopening to traffic as fire and police investigators have been unable to enter the building, which housed the M&Co clothing store and RDs Hair and Beauty.

Inverness based Highlands and Islands MSP David Stewart has raised concern about the long term future and urged it not to be left as a “shell”.

Mr Stewart introduced a bill to the Scottish Parliament last year to allow local authorities more powers when dealing with dangerous or defective buildings.

He said: “The recent unfortunate fire in the premises on Academy Street has prompted me once again to highlight the need for owners and businesses across the Highlands and islands to better look after some of their premises and taken positive action to address building defects.

“I am not insinuating that the building which caught fire was dangerous or derelict, far from it, but it is now in the post fire stage, being made safe at least as it has been totally destroyed. I do hope that it will not be left in it’s ‘shell’ form for months and years to come like so many others.”