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.

Inverness paw print trail to stay after councillors agree they can’t risk the cost of removing it

An apology has been offered after the colourful footprints were added without a proper consultation.

The paw prints trail in Inverness
The paw print trail appeared on city streets last year. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

The Inverness paw print trail will be staying in the city centre, councillors have agreed.

There was no ringing endorsement for the colourful footprints at the Inverness city committee today.

Instead it was a sense of resignation that the council cannot risk being hit with a £12,000 removal bill during a budget crunch.

Inverness city area manager David Haas told the committee he accepted responsibility for a blunder which saw the footprints added to Lombard Street, Drummond Street and Union Street without consulting councillors first.

“We didn’t get it right and I’m very sorry for that,” Mr Haas said.

“This is what I would call a blip. But it’s an important blip and we are going to fix it.”

A welcome addition or ‘shabby’ and ‘gaudy’?

The trail is designed to direct people from the High Street to the newly-revamped Victorian Market.

The paw prints are supposed to let people know that the market is dog-friendly.

A number of businesses in the market itself are supportive of the trail. But there has been criticism of its look.

The paw prints trail in Inverness
The paw prints prompted a bit of confusion when they were first introduced. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

Inverness councillor Alasdair Christie tabled a motion to have them removed last year, saying a number of people had told him they were “shabby” and “gaudy”.

Although it only cost £895 for the trail to be added, removing them could cost as much as £12,000 because of the risk of damage to the paving stones.

Will the paw print trail be reviewed again?

A report from council officials to today’s committee recommended leaving them in place to avoid that cost.

That recommendation was unanimously agreed.

But not without a few jabs at the process.

Culloden and Ardersier councillor Trish Robertson said: “We spent a lot of money on the Victorian Market and these footprints are out of keeping with what we would like to see in the city centre.

Councillor Trish Robertson
Councillor Trish Robertson. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

“It detracts from it. I’m really disappointed this investigation into what it would do did not take place beforehand.

“We should have checked whether it was good to put any material at all on those slabs because of the expense if it did not work out.

“I agree we’ll have to leave them but there are a lot of lessons to be learned.”

Inverness councillor Isabelle MacKenzie added: “This should have been dealt with at the very beginning.”

A review on the success of the trail will take place later in the year.

Conversation