Inshes Park - Phase 2 Official Opening
PHOTOS from the official opening
The final touches to the second phase of Inshes District Park in Inverness are almost complete and an official opening ceremony is set to take place on Wednesday 27th June 2018 with pupils from Inshes and Milton of Leys Primary Schools joining Provost Helen Carmichael, local councillors, representatives from the community and guests at the newly constructed entrance plaza off Stevenson Road.
The £580K contract which forms part of the second phase of the development at Inshes District Park was awarded to P1 Solutions Ltd of Edinburgh and work on site began in February this year. This included the construction of an entrance plaza, that will form a gathering place at the access from Stevenson Road, and paths that meander through the site from the entrance on Stevenson Road to the existing footbridge over Inshes Road. Also included in the project is a 20 space car park, lighting and earthworks to form areas of open space. These works form the first part of a scheme to develop the Phase 2 site into a public park.
Inshes Park is funded through developer contributions collected over the past number of years from adjacent housing developments and a grant of £175k from Scottish Government, through Sustrans Scotland’s Community Links Programme, has contributed to funding the current phase of the parks’ path network. The first phase also received a grant of £150,000 from the Inverness Common Good Fund who also provided a further £30,000 for Phase 2.
Sustrans Scotland’s Community Links Programme is funded by Scottish Government and delivered by Sustrans in partnership with local authorities, statutory bodies and educational institutions for the creation of walking and cycling infrastructure for everyday journeys. Since 2010 the programme has funded more than 500 projects across Scotland.
The new all-abilities path provides an off-road cycling and pedestrian link between homes, school, recreational and work destinations. The footpath will provide an alternative route through an attractive neighbourhood park and will link to the wider path network. A separate planting and landscaping contract will follow on from these works as developer contributions from adjacent housing developments accrue.
Provost Helen Carmichael is looking forward to the opening ceremony. She said: “Since the first phase north of Stevenson Road was completed in 2012 Inshes Park has become a terrific asset to the local community and is very popular with cyclists, walkers and families. The Phase 2 works have extended and greatly enhanced the green open space in this fast developing area of the city and I am particularly pleased that developer contributions have been put to such good use as there is a growing awareness of the value of open spaces for health and social wellbeing. I’m really looking forward to joining pupils, my fellow councillors and guests to celebrate it’s completion.”
Inshes Community Association (ICA) who lease the park from the Council spent £350K developing and funding facilities for phase 1.
Chair of the Association, Thomas Prag said: “We are really pleased that the council has pushed on with phase 2 of the park. We consulted the community and top of the wish list was some kind wheel park which could accommodate Scooters - so that's our target. We have planning permission already and are now fund-raising for the £330k needed to do the job".