Call for public meeting to discuss Eastgate Hostel saga

CALLS have been made for a public meeting to discuss the ongoing saga of a fire-ravaged building blighting Inverness city centre.

Public frustration has been growing at the lack of visible progress to tackle the former Eastgate Hostel which went up in flames in April 2013.

Chiropodist Jim Crawford, whose practice lies just beyond the eyesore site in Stephens Brae, is now calling for a meeting take place this month at the Inverness Town House at which the public can be given a full update, with Highland Council officers and the building’s owners present.

"It is time someone told us exactly what is happening," he said. "It has been going on for more than five years. We keep being told something is going to happen but then nothing ever does."

A planning application was lodged with the council earlier this year to remove scaffolding and demolish the remaining structure ahead of reconstruction. But hopes that work would start as early as June were dashed when a council officer and Historic Environment Scotland voiced disquiet about the proposal.

Mr Crawford said he and other nearby traders had been kept mainly in the dark throughout the ongoing saga. He also wants the Inverness Common Good Fund to be used to acquire the building.

Inverness Central councillor Bet McAllister said she and her colleague Janet Campbell have attended meetings with council officials and the owners in a bid to resolve the situation. She felt an open meeting would be interesting and fiery.

"We are as frustrated as everyone else," she said. "We are at the end of our tethers. We cannot keep having meetings and then nothing happens."

Inverness city manager David Haas said: "We recognise the importance of that site. That is why we have ploughed significant support in kind to the owners and their agents to find a solution.

"We have to recognise this is a privately-owned building and the owners recognise their responsibilities. It is not an easy situation."

He urged Mr Crawford to get in contact with him.

"I will be glad to talk through the concerns and issues with him," he said.