TEN YEARS AGO Thursday May 9, 2013

Council urged: don’t move out of Fort

A plea will be made to Highland Council today urging it not to decamp from Fort William’s town centre amid fears about potentially damaging effects on the beleaguered High Street.

Opposition and independent councillors have lodged a motion seeking a pledge from the authority’s leadership that it will retain its offices at the heart of the town as a clear commitment to the economic success.

It comes after the SNP/Liberal Democrat/ Labour-led council launched a review of its current accommodation arrangements, with the future of Fort William’s Lochaber House and Council Chambers, offices in Tweedale Buildings and Fulton House in Gordon Square all uncertain.

We exclusively revealed last November that the town’s 100-plus staff in the town centre could be relocated to a new-build complex on Fort William’s outskirts, potentially the Blar Mhor, as the council assessed its property arrangements.

It is one money-saving idea being investigated but the potential drift of staff from the town centre could well have a blow as the number of empty units and shops closing down in the High Street has increased in recent years.

Lochaber councillor Andrew Baxter has issued a stark warning about any out-of-town move and thrown his weight behind the motion, which will be debated at a meeting of all the region’s councillors in Inverness.

He said this week: “Although on paper, moving staff out of the town centre premises may result in cost savings, it would also remove hundreds of people that use the shops around them.

“The potential economic costs on the wider community could be enormous.

“We need to look at the future of our town centres, in particular Fort William, as a whole rather than in a piecemeal way.”

Picture: The Write Image. 2013: Martin Black, pictured left, and fellow students Kevin Sabui and Liam Johnstone of the Access to Further Education course at West Highland College UHI in Fort William served up soup and sandwiches to some very appreciative diners to raise money for the soon-to-beopened Lochaber Food Bank. The students were inspired by a talk given by Lochaber Food Bank chairman John Penny, and decided to raise money to help. The initiative raised £70, earning the lads praise and heartfelt thanks from Sandra Casey, right, a Lochaber Food Bank trustee and lecturer at the college.