The Inverness Courier reported on Friday 280809 that:
"A DECISION on the future location of a new flagship campus for Inverness College has again been postponed"
The report continued:
"...the college board had been expected to decide by the end of this month whether to redevelop its existing Longman Road site or to move to a new greenfield location at Beechwood on the city's eastern outskirts.
However, in order to take time to further consider the merits of both sites, the board is now expected to make a decision next month.
The £60 million project — which has yet to be approved by the Scottish Education Funding Council — is an integral part of the development of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). But the choices of location have prompted an intense battle."
The full article can be found here
However the Agenda for the forthcoming Meeting of The Highland Council on Thursday, 3 September 2009 contains the following item (12) on the Inverness College Campus Options:
"There is circulated Report No. HC-23-09 dated 25 August 2009 by the Director of Planning and Development which provides an update on the progress being made on the development of a new campus site at Beechwood on the east of Inverness which will offer the opportunity for the relocation of Inverness College from the current Longman site and a number of other related activities, including the Scottish Agricultural College, additional student residences, the future development of the Centre for Health Science and sports facilities.
Members are invited to:-
a) support the efforts underway to deliver a high quality campus site at Beechwood, Inverness, and
b) agree to continued dialogue with all the partners involved in the scheme to ensure that the site can be delivered in the timescales required."
The report related to agenda item 12 seeks the endorsement of support by the Council towards the establishment of the new campus at Beechwood, "given the wider economic benefits for the Highlands as a whole" and states:
"It is important that the Council endorses the commitment to the delivery of the new campus in Inverness. Whilst any proposal to redevelop the Longman site in Inverness could be supported in planning terms, Members may wish to endorse the benefits that the Beechwood site offers in providing long-term capacity and fit with the longer-term development strategy for the city."
"A preferred site for the development of the campus has been identified at
Beechwood Farm located to the east of the A9. This site is currently part of the
green wedge as shown within the adopted Inverness Local Plan but is identified as
a campus site within the A96 Corridor Framework, which has been approved as
supplementary planning guidance by the Council in September 2007. The site
which covers some 219 acres (88 hectares) is shown on the attached map."
"As set out above the relocation of Inverness College will be an important element
of the Beechwood Campus project. The College Board is currently discussing the
options available to them and carrying out their own risk assessment of the two
main options – the redevelopment of the Longman Road site and the Beechwood
Campus. The Board is expected to make their decision shortly with the intention of
progressing the preferred option through the funding process required for the
scheme. Senior Members and officials of the Council have been actively involved
in discussions with the College on both of the options currently before the Board."
"In planning terms the redevelopment of the Longman site could be supported by
current Council policy, although it is suggested that this would not offer the wider
benefits that a co-located college on the Beachwood campus could offer. The
current college site is rather limited in area, and remains better suited in the
medium to longer term to other uses, including retail, business and industrial uses.
In addition future expansion of the Longman site would involve negotiation with
different land interests. By contrast, the Beechwood site is wholly owned by HIE
and of sufficient size to accommodate considerable expansion over future
decades. The site also provides potential for a range of supporting activities which
will enhance the attractiveness of further and higher education in the city and the
Highlands. These include student accommodation and sports facilities which
would be problematic on the Longman site."
"Discussions are continuing with the College Board on the options appraisal that
they are considering. The Council has requested that the affordability section of the
options appraisal and a timetable for the final decisions be provided. Whilst no
decision has been reached the key risks of the Beechwood Campus, including the
delivery of access to the site and the phasing and location of the individual
development “parcels” are capable of being managed effectively through joint
working between the various agencies involved."
Is the College Board in effect being presented with no option other than to accept the construction of a campus at Beechwood? With so much pressure from The Highland Council and HIE how could they refuse?
This reads very much as if the Council planning officials are trying to browbeat the elected Councillors into supporting the Beechwood campus proposal. Why? They acknowledge that the Longman site "could be supported in planning terms", but that Councillors should endorse the Beechwood option.
ReplyDeleteIf the College has a Board, the Board should be responsible for the decisions, and the Council's officials should be scrupulously neutral. Their role is to offer factual planning advice, not to lobby for a particular outcome.
One specific and alarming point is the statement that the Beechwood site is designated as "green wedge" in the Inverness Local Plan (approved and adopted): but the officials are invoking the A96 Corridor Framework (unadopted, it has only "guidance" status) as an argument for building a campus development on it.
Almost all of the major developments in the A96 Corridor are proposed on greenfield sites. The major proposals are on land that is not yet allocated through any statutory process and even those proposals with some local plan land allocation proposed within them are being brought forward with greater land use and densities than supported by the adopted plan.
ReplyDeleteWe at APT recognise that there is a limited supply of brownfield sites, but have campaigned all along that the way to bring forward any plans was through the statutory process - from their inception. It is ok for master plans to be used to inform the statutory process but surely they should not take the place of it.
We must not lsoe site of the HwLDP in this, but APTSec feels that the purity of this MIR consultation has been ruined by the pre-exisitence of the Corridor plans.