Plans for a £13million revamp of the north’s biggest retail park have been backed – paving the way for a trio of restaurant chains to move to Inverness.
Frankie and Benny’s, Nando’s and TGI Fridays will now move into the former Comet store at the city’s retail park.
But last night many city centre businesses were furious at the decision, and described it as a “severe blow” which could result in the heart of the Highland capital becoming a sad network of bookies and charity shops.
Business organisations and some members of the south planning committee had tried to argue that Inverness city centre should have priority for such investment.
But councillors voted nine to five to allow the move – much to the delight of Inverness Shopping Park, who hailed it as a “major investment” for Inverness.
During the meeting, city SNP councillor Richard Laird argued that approving the plans for expanding the Inverness Shopping Park on the southeast side of the city went against policy and risked setting a dangerous precedent.
“We’ve seen over the past 20 years what happens when you let bulky retail, office blocks and major retailers go out of town. They go out and they don’t come back,” he said.
“If we allow this to go through today exactly the same thing will happen with the hospitality sector and if that goes what are we left with?
“We’ll be left with bookies and charity shops and HMOs (houses in multiple occupation).”
But Labour councillor John Ford stressed the council could not dictate a retailer’s choice of location.
Speaking after the meeting, committee chairman Jimmy Gray said the council’s role was to “protect the whole of Inverness in order to protect the centre”.
He added: “We’ve got 110 restaurants in Inverness. Putting these at the retail park isn’t going to detract people from the city centre.”
Mike Smith, manager of the business organisation Inverness Bid, however, was unconvinced last night.
“It’s a severe blow,” he said. “A serious precedent has been set that could be detrimental to the whole city centre trading economy. It changes people’s use of areas.
“As a result, city centre traders are severely at risk – which is why we, on behalf of the 850 trading businesses in the city centre, had objected three times.”
David Richardson, of the Federation of Small Businesses, described the committee’s decision as “disappointing.”
He added: “This is from a council that adopted the Scottish Government’s ‘Town Centre First Presumption’ to safeguard the heart of its only city.”
But Kirsteen Gunn, manager of Inverness Shopping Park, said she was delighted with the council’s decision.
“This heralds a major investment in Inverness,” she said. “We would particularly like to thank the members of the public and members of the business community who have supported our application and who can now look forward to much better facilities for shoppers.”
The investment also promises improved parking, play facilities for young children and additional customer toilets.