A long-awaited new rail station at Inverness Airport, to herald multi-million pound investment in an area of the Highlands earmarked for crucial development, has finally been given the green light.
But the £5m project was almost derailed at Highland Council’s planning committee by concerns over the associated closure of a local level crossing. Only assurances that a separate order would have to be framed, which would require objectors’ views to be heard in a public inquiry or official hearing, persuaded councillors to approve the application.
The 568ft platform is expected to be built by December with the station open to passengers before the end of next year.
The plan includes car parking for 150 vehicles. The airport is expected to run a shuttle bus on the mile between the terminal and the new Dalcross station between Inverness and Nairn, on the main line from the Highland capital to Aberdeen.
It is estimated that "ridership" figures on this section of the line will increase from 160,000 to 400,000 by 2050 with the arrival of the new stop. Also that for every £1 spent on project the surrounding area should get £3.60 back in benefits.
As well as travellers using the airport, it will provide transport links for the new town of Tornagrain where work has already begun on the 5,000 due to be built.
The report from planning officials considered by councillors advised that Tornagrain would have “shops, schools and community facilities over a series of phases during the next 30 – 50 years. It will have an estimated population of 10,000. Dalcross Railway Station is identified as transport linkage, helping to ensure that Tornagrain is a sustainable community.”
But the new railway station is also seen as integral to plans for the Inverness Airport Business Park. Around 500 acres of land have been identified near the airport for development as a business / research and development park / hotel / conference centre.
Meanwhile the nearby A96 road to Aberdeen is also scheduled for upgrading.
Ken McCorquodale, Principal Planner said the council had “lofty ambitions” for this area to the east of Inverness, and the new railway station was an important part of them.
The new station plan would tie in with proposals for half-hourly train services between Elgin and Inverness, and an hourly service pattern between Inverness and Aberdeen. It has been forecast that within 50 years Dalcross could overtake Elgin to become the second busiest in the north, after Inverness.
However Ardersier and Petty Community Council said that while it was fully supportive of a railway station at Inverness Airport, it had significant concerns, on behalf residents, who would be affected by the closure of the Petty level crossing, which would have a negative impact on local access arrangements.
But the applicant the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS), the statutory regional transport partnership, had a transport assessment carried out, which said that when considering the wider economic and transport benefits to the Highlands the new Inverness Airport station would bring, the closure of the level crossing was acceptable. "There will be safety benefits associated with the crossing closure itself and consultation with the various emergency services has indicated that there would be little or no impact on their ability to serve the local area as a consequence,” it said.
However local councillor Kate Stephen, while supporting the new station, criticised the lack of local consultation over the level crossing.
There was a previous Dalcross Station, near the closure-threatened level crossing, but it closed in 1965.
HITRANS began planning for the new station in in 2005, and already looking to build a second platform and a “passing place” for trains at Dalcross.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel