E&I Committee members approve the 22/23 Inverness & Highland City Region Deal annual report

The 2022/23 Inverness & Highland City-Region Deal annual report was noted and approved by Members at today’s (15 February 2024) meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee. 

The annual report is a mandatory obligation and forms part of the Annual Conversation between Inverness & Highland City-Region Deal (IHCRD) partners and representatives from the UK and Scottish governments. 

The Highland Council is the lead body for the IHCRD, which is being implemented through a partnership between the local authority, Highlands and Island Enterprise (HIE), The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), and Albyn Housing Society Ltd. 

Collectively this £315m funding package (Scottish Government £135m, UK Government £53m, The Highland Council and local partners £127m) is provided over a ten-year period and is subject to detailed business cases, statutory processes, and implementation plans. The financial year 2022/23 marked the sixth year of the IHCRD. 

Chair of Highland Council’s Economy & Infrastructure Committee, Cllr Ken Gowans, said: “The annual report presented to our committee highlights the important impact projects across Highland are having. The Committee welcomed this opportunity to be updated on the progress of the Inverness & Highland City-Region Deal.” 

The Highland Council’s Inverness City and Area Leader Cllr Ian Brown said: “I am particularly pleased that the Inverness Castle project is progressing well and that it remains on time and on budget. 

“Inverness Castle will undoubtedly become one of the Highlands’ leading visitor attractions. This project is part of a list of projects planned by The Highland Council which seek to rejuvenate and revamp the region’s cultural and heritage attractions, so that the Highlands can continue to attract and appeal to visitors, for many more years to come.” 

The projects within the Deal can be found under Item 6 in Appendix 1 of the annual report which was presented and approved by Members at today’s committee. 

The annual report provides a description and update on the progress of each project, as well as a look ahead to planned delivery over the coming period. 

Highlights on the following projects are available within the report: 

• Inverness Castle 

• Life Sciences Innovation Centre 

• Science Skills Academy 

• Innovative Assisted Living (FitHomes) 

• Digital 

• Affordable Housing 

• Northern Innovation Hub 

• Longman Land Remediation 

• Transport Infrastructure – Highland Council 

• Highland Air Access 

The draft report was well received at the annual meeting of IHCRD partners and Scottish and UK governments. The Annual Conversation took place in November last year. 

The key agreements from that meeting were: 

• Governments and partners to consider funding opportunities for digital investment in the region. 

• The Council, as the Deal accountable body, to consider the potential need for timescale extensions of specific projects beyond 2027 and to articulate the links with Green Free Port to provide a basis for financial profile and timescale adjustments. 

• Scottish Government to resolve delivery timescales for the Deal Transport schemes for Longman Junction and East Link. 

• The Council to finalise the Benefits Realisation Plan for the Deal.