A huge majority of city centre businesses are calling for the controversial Academy Street traffic plans to go back to the drawing board.
Highland Council wants to make dramatic changes to the city’s main thoroughfare – but the proposals have caused controversy.
Their favoured plan is to stop through traffic and add bus lanes to sections of the street.
The debate over the plans ended up in court when the owners of the Eastgate Centre went head-to-head with the council – and won.
So far, surveys into the Academy Street debacle have shown a split.
We decided to go straight to the horse’s mouth and ask businesses on Academy Street itself and surroundings roads what they thought.
90 of them responded.
We learned:
Most businesses are against the plans in their current form
Dozens of them – a small majority – want Academy Street to stay exactly as it is
Many are calling for a public review of the council’s actions so far
Business owners are tired of arguing about the plans
Academy Street survey: The results
With the help of Inverness BID, we came up with four questions for their members.
We asked whether they wanted to continue with the current plan, consider other options – or just leave Academy Street as it is.
We also asked whether they would be in favour of a review of what has happened so far.
Here is how they responded:
How did we get here?
Highland Council set out to reduce traffic in the city centre and make it more attractive for walkers, cyclists and wheelchair users.
Plans include stopping through traffic in Academy Street and adding bus lane sections between the junctions of Union Street and Queensgate.
A meeting of the council’s Inverness city committee on August 28 2023 approved the plans by 12 votes to 10.
This was later backed by 35-33 votes at a full council meeting on September 14.
But it didn’t go down well. The owners of the Eastgate Centre sought a judicial review of the council’s decisions on both dates.
Lord Sandison ruled in their favour, saying there had been an unlawful consultation.
The council is appealing the ruling and is considering its future options.
It is due to discuss the issue at a meeting on September 19.
What did the businesses say?
Read our separate piece (linked at the bottom of the article) to see what individual businesses think about the proposals.
Speaking on behalf of them all, Inverness BID also made its feelings clear.
A spokesperson said: “The P&J survey has found that the majority of business respondents would like the Highland Council to abandon any further progression of the current proposal on September 19.
“This is not surprising given that the plan was independently deemed to offer ‘poor value for money’.
“The economic impact assessment brief and approach was found to be ‘fundamentally flawed’.
“Any judicial review appeal will not remedy these defects, so no further public money or resource should be wasted.”
The board added: “Seven in 10 businesses surveyed have also called for an independent public review or inquiry.
“This is presumably to assess how and why things went so wrong which, if undertaken, could offer recommendations for moving forward.”
The spokesperson added that it was time to “draw a line” and bring everyone together in “a genuinely inclusive and collaborative way”.
A council spokeswoman said “The council is considering its position and it would be inappropriate to comment at this time.”
More on our Academy Street survey
After two years of bickering, the Academy Street debate has left us dizzy
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