Fort William 2040 (FW2040)

Overview and public consultation

A Masterplan and Delivery Programme for Fort William and Lochaber

Fort William 2040 (FW2040) is an ongoing project to co-ordinate and deliver a shared Vision for the future of Fort William and Lochaber. This Vision and accompanying Masterplan and Delivery Programme, have been prepared with feedback gathered from consultation events held in 2018 and 2019 involving people living, working, and investing in the area. Ongoing engagement events and consultation continue to generate feedback on the Vision, the individual projects it contains, and on the place Fort William and the wider area could and should be.

Fort William Town Centre Masterplan and Deliverability Framework

As part of the FW2040 Vision, work is underway on a project to develop a dedicated Masterplan and Deliverability Framework for the regeneration of Fort William town centre.

Commissioned in partnership by the Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the Lochaber Chamber of Commerce in August 2023, Threesixty Architecture have developed a draft Masterplan for Fort William Town Centre. The Masterplan is based on planning policy, local strategies, and guidance, informed by discussions with a range of key stakeholders and organisations. It was presented at a one-day public event at the Nevis Centre in November 2023 and the current working draft was produced in January 2024.

View the draft Fort William Town Centre Masterplan (Main document)

View the draft Fort William Town Centre Masterplan (Appendices)

The Masterplan offers a vision which shows more town centre residential accommodation, an improved night-time economy, greater green space, new retail, culture, and leisure uses, and a shift in the relationship between the town centre of Fort William, the A82, and the waterfront by focussing on a number of sites throughout the town centre.

The Masterplan is illustrative, Its purpose is to set out ideas and options as to how Fort William could develop with the ambition being to transform the town centre into a vibrant, textured, varied, safe and inclusive place to live, work and play.

Community Engagement on the Town Centre Masterplan

A 4-week public exhibition of the Masterplan which was hosted in Fort William Library on the High Street in Feb and March 2024 has now finished. A range of community engagement work including sessions with students at UHI NW+H, Lochaber High School pupils, and with local businesses through Lochaber Chamber of Commerce has also been completed.

Feedback received on the Masterplan has been collated and is reported here.

View the Fort William Town Centre Masterplan Addendum - Community Feedback (Aug 2024)

A second document has also now been produced which sets out how the feedback received has been addressed by the design team and is reported here.

View the Fort William Town Centre Masterplan Addendum - Design Team Response (Jan 2025)

This includes more detail on specific comments received about aspects such as:

building ownership
public realm improvements
waterfront access and development
the A82, transport and parking
leisure and cultural facilities
building reuse and design
funding and timescales

In the coming months, the commissioning partners will aim to progress elements of the Masterplan. This will include prioritising proposals and planning their delivery and implementation. Information and updates on this process will be provided on these pages and in Fort William Library. This process will include further community engagement at appropriate stages. However, you can get in touch to discuss the Masterplan at any time at regeneration@highland.gov.uk.

Fort William Town Centre Masterplan Feedback Form

View the Public Exhibition Banners

View the original Fort William Town Centre Masterplan Developed Brief

Information on how we use your data can be found on our privacy notice.

Wider Consultation on FW2040

While the Town Centre Masterplan, is a key component of the project, there is also a commitment to ongoing consultation on the range of individual projects that make up FW2040. This will allow for consideration of new information on the progress of projects and ensure the Delivery Programme is on track and contributing to achieving the wider FW2040 Vision. This will also help identify any new projects that are in a position to be added to the Masterplan.

FW2040 public consultation events were not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, we were delighted that an event was once again able to be held in 2022. It took place on Wednesday 2 November 2022, in Caol Community Centre.

You can view more information about the event in our news article - Fort William 2040 public event hailed a success.

Two surveys were available at the Public Consultation Event:

views on FW2040 overall
views on ideas for Town Centre improvements

The deadline for returning these has now passed. Feedback has been collated and a summary report produced. This feedback will help shape the future direction of FW2040. There will be further reporting on wider progress with FW2040 to the Lochaber Area Committee this year.

Download copies of the two keynote presentations from the 2022 event, together with the feedback report below.

The hope is that there can be a return to a programme of more regular consultation as well as project specific engagement.