Old school demolition under way

DEMOLITION of the former Lochyside Primary School building started this week.

Diggers appeared on site on Tuesday April 18 to start knocking down the school, which first opened in 1964.

Highland Council and Lochaber Housing Association, working together with Highland Small Communities Housing Trust, are redeveloping the site into 60 new homes and associated services including an amenity area with play park as well as roads and landscaping.

There will be a mix of two, three and four bed dwellings in the form of two-storey villas, bungalows and twoand-a-half storey flats.

The development was discussed at the Caol Community Council meeting on April 10 where members commented that progress had been slow, demolition was yet to take place and there may now be birds nesting in nearby trees which could hold the process up even more.

Houses bordering the development had received letters alerting them of plans to move the position of some of the houses. It is believed the presiding officer objected to the amount of space being used for parking and in particular the ratio of green space to tar. Changes were therefore made to the plan to create more green space which meant the orientation of the houses had to be changed.

However, community council member John Gillespie said: ‘It’s good they’ve started now.’

A Highland Council spokesperson said: ‘We expect demolition work to be finished in June 2017 and the new homes are expected to be complete in late 2018.’