Nairn and Fort William benefit from town centre regeneration funding

The Highland Council has warmly welcomed success with bids for town centre regeneration funding from the Scottish Government for projects at Fort William and Nairn. The bigger project is at Nairn, where the Council has secured £800,000 towards improvements in the High Street.  This will continue the work recently completed at The Brae at a cost of £270,000, extending the improvements  along the High Street to the Royal Bank of Scotland corner, including Castle Square.

Convener Sandy Park said:  “This is great news for Nairn. It is just what the town needs.  The first phase of improvements have been well received and I am sure the people of Nairn will welcome the facelift that awaits part of the High Street.”

The council has set aside £215,000 towards the next phase of the Nairn townscape project. 

At Fort William, the council has been awarded funding of £317,000 towards the cost of environmental improvements to the west end of the High Street where a new focal point to mark the end of the West Highland Way will be established with the approval of Scottish Ministers. At the east end of the street it is proposed to make substantial improvements to the underpass which has been the subject of considerable criticism in recent years.

The Council and partners, including Highland and Islands Enterprise and LEADER,  have set aside £155,000 towards this project.

Councillor Brian Murphy, chairman of the Fort William Steering Group, said: “This is very welcome news for the town and allows us to press ahead with our eagerly awaited plans for the West End. Having the West Highland Way finish at the West End will in our view provide a much needed boost to businesses along the High Street. At the other end of town we have some very interesting ideas for re-furbishing the underpass and hope to involve our young people in the designs for this ”

Bids for funding for projects at Thurso and Wick were not successful. While, the Scottish Government recognised that the bids met the criteria, they were unsuccessful due to the volume and standard of competing bids elsewhere in Scotland.