A new pharmacy in an Inverness neighbourhood has been approved by NHS Highland after years of demand from locals.
The health board confirmed yesterday that its pharmacy committee had granted approval to Green+Healthcare to open up the new chemists in Dalneigh.
The pharmacy is planned for the area’s long-closed former post office at Laurel Avenue, which had been the subject of a failed bid in 2013.
Councillor Richard Laird, who lives in the Dalneigh area, yesterday hailed the move as “excellent news”, saying the entire community had backed the plans.
The plans were first lodged in March this year and have been caught up in a lengthy consultation process.
The pharmacy practices committee visited the site earlier this year and considered which other chemists could be seen as in the immediate area around Dalneigh.
They also considered the existing service within Dalneigh and ultimate reached a majority decision that the application be granted.
In a statement released yesterday NHS Highland said: “There are currently no pharmaceutical services located in the neighbourhood and collection and delivery services are not providing access to the full range of pharmaceutical services in an area with a significant level of deprivation and an increasingly elderly population.
“Consequently the committee was of the opinion that a community pharmacy located within the neighbourhood would be much better placed to deliver the needs of the population.”
Mr Laird said: “This is excellent news for Dalneigh. The entire community got behind this application and I am pleased that the NHS has listened to us.
“We have needed a healthcare facility like this for some time and we’re pleased to finally be getting one”.
The previous rejected application proved controversial with the applicants Conon Bridge Pharmacy claiming after being rejected that they had abadnoned a survey amid fears that its canvassers were in danger.
The company claimed many families in Dalneigh were living in squalor, literacy levels were low and daytime drunkenness was common.
Mr Laird added: “The experience of the previous application and the controversial statements made in its survey responses left a bad taste in the mouth in Dalneigh, but I can only commend Green+Healthcare for the way it has gone about this application.
“Getting the NHS to approve a new pharmacy seems more difficult than getting a turkey to vote for Christmas, so I am delighted by this result.”