The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Capital’s retail revamp under threat
Rejection of extension ‘massive blow’
Plans for a multimillionpound revamp of the retail heart of the Highland capital have been dealt a massive blow.
Bosses at the Eastgate Centre in Inverness tabled proposals for four new restaurant units facing on to Falcon Square and an extension to the existing Filling Station round to the historic Laura Ashley building.
Yesterday members of the local authority’s south planning committee backed the new restaurants – but rejected the Filling Station extension.
Eastgate chiefs will have to go back to the drawing board after committee members ruled the planned transformation of the C-listed Filling Station building in Academy Street would contravene local policy in a conservation area.
Councillors also decided the design would conflict with the city-centre brief by “failing to protect and enhance its rich and diverse cultural and natural heritage”.
The Eastgate Unit Trust had applied to extend the property on to the gable elevation of the adjacent Falconer Building. The proposals are part of a package which could eventually involve the Laura Ashley premises becoming a restaurant and the centre boasting a rooftop bar and dining area.
The redevelopment could also pave the way for extended opening hours at the shopping centre.
The developers could not be contacted last night. The full proposals, if ultimately accepted in a different form, would add 4,575sq ft to the centre plus an outdoor seating area of 1,260sq ft.
The proposals were first suggested in January by Scoop Asset Management, which bought the Eastgate last summer from BMO Real Estate Partners as part of a £116million deal.