Trunk Link Road – second round of consultation

The Highland Council is to hold a second round of consultation in the autumn to feed back the comments that have been made by the public about the two options for routing the proposed Inverness Trunk Link Road from the A96 at Smithton to the Southern Distributor Road at Inshes.

More than 320 people attended a joint ward forum at Inshes Church, Inverness,  on Tuesday 13 May and a further 262 people attended a two-day exhibition of the planned TLR route at the same venue on Wednesday and Thursday 14-15 May. Many others are making their views known via the home page of the Council’s web site: http://www.highland.gov.uk

Councillor Roy Pedersen, Vice-Chairman of the Council’s Transport Environmental and Community Services Committee, warmly thanked the public for turning out in such numbers to hear about the options and to make their comments known on the proposals.

The consultation will continue until the end of June.  TEC Services officials will analyse the responses over the summer and the Council intends to hold a second round of consultation in the autumn to advise the public of the outcome.

Councillor Pedersen said: “I cannot remember a bigger turn out for a meeting of this type and I would like to thank the public for their attendance and comments at the meeting and the exhibition.  I have no doubt that distinct themes will emerge and we will come back to the public in the autumn with a full analysis of the responses. Their help is greatly appreciated as we make the case to the Scottish Government to fund this crucially important project for Inverness and the wider Highlands.”

Members of the public are being asked to comment on two alternative alignments under consideration for the new road at Inshes Retail Park.
A northern route would see the road join the Southern Distributor Road west of the Inshes Roundabout by taking a route which would require the relocation of part of the Inshes Shopping Outlet, including the Tesco store.  A southern route would join the Southern Distributor Road at the Dellness Roundabout and would require the relocation of the Inshes Church of Scotland.

The exhibition is now on display at The Highland Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, while survey forms are available at Inverness Service Point, 23 Church Street, Inverness, and from the home page of the Council’s web site:  http://www.www.highland.gov.uk/.