£3bn blueprint for three new towns to boost local population by 30,000

THREE new towns would be created in one of Scotland's population-growth hotspots under a £3 billion plan unveiled yesterday.

The proposal includes infrastructure costing £325 million and the creation of 20,000 jobs.

About 16,500 new homes will also be built over four decades on a 16-mile stretch between Inverness and Nairn in the Highlands, with around 30,000 people expected to move into the A96 corridor.

Inverness has already doubled in size over the past 30 years and the new developments would see the population rise from 65,000 to around 75,000.

Similarly, Nairn, which doubled in size at the height of the oil boom to around 10,000 people, would gain 9,000 residents.

Officials say the blueprint, published by Highland Council, will avoid piecemeal development of the type which has earned criticism in the past.

They say the new developments would help retain the area's young people and encourage migration from other parts of the UK and beyond.

However, the work depends on major road improvements, including upgrading the A96 and a Nairn bypass. It would also need eight new primary schools, three secondaries and more health facilities.

The blueprint includes:

• Housing for more than 7,000 at east Inverness, and a new campus for the proposed Highlands and Islands university.

• A new community of 550 homes outside Nairn.

• A development at Delnies to include a tourism and heritage centre, five-star hotel, championship golf course, equestrian centre, ecological centre, community woodland and housing.

• A 3,000-strong resort at Whiteness on the site of the former McDermott oil platform construction site near Ardersier. It will include 1,950 homes, a marina, hotel, shops and school. Work is due to start next year and be completed by 2020.

• A new town at Tornagrain with 4,500 houses for up to 10,000 people . A planning application from Moray Estates is expected in the new year.

• Moray Estates is also involved in a golf and hotel complex at Castle Stuart and the development of an Inverness Airport business park.

Consultants have estimated the infrastructure will cost around £326 million, with £151 million from the public purse and the rest from private funds.

However, the council says 90 per cent of the A96 corridor will remain undeveloped and a green framework has been drawn up for a range of measures to protect the environment and provide recreation and leisure facilities.

Sandy Park, the council convener and a Nairn councillor, said: "In the past the planning department has been criticised for allowing ad hoc development. This document gives us a vision to go forward."

FROM FARMS AND FORESTS TO URBAN COMMUNITY

TORNAGRAIN is due to become one of the largest towns in the Highlands.

An area largely made up of farmland and forestry is set to be transformed into a community of 10,000 people.

The plan is being overseen by John Stuart, Lord Doune, son of the 20th Earl of Moray.

For the design of Tornagrain, Lord Doune commissioned architect Andres Duany. He is a founder of the Congress for New Urbanism – which promotes traditional, pedestrian-friendly cities.

However, one local councillor, Roddy Balfour, has predicted Tornagrain will be a "disaster, economically, socially and geographically".