At the Highland Council meeting on 3 September 2015, the Administration set out their agreed Programme priorities. These included a new Regional Sports Facility to be built in Inverness with provision for indoor cycling.
Indeed cycling will be the preferred flagship sport for the new hub, with the full size wooden 250m. track centre and undercroft areas also catering for indoor athletics, tennis, judo and gymnastics. The design will incorporate a full strength & conditioning suite, and the track centre will enable an occasional 2-3000 seat arena space for concerts/conferences etc, the largest such facility in the Highlands. The chosen site bolts onto the current Bught/Queens Park sports complex. Estimated capital cost is £23.1m at 2015 prices. The Council’s published Business Plan fully acknowledges the major input from HiVelo and its sponsored feasibility studies which proved very influential in swinging the final appraisal towards our sport.
The Council has therefore now committed to spending up to £150,000 to develop the project to a detailed Design and Costings stage. It is anticipated that £5-7m. of grant will be awarded by sportscotland, but progressing this new sports performance hub for the North of Scotland is wholly dependent upon a wider £410m. City Deal which it is expected will be approved with Government by March 2016.
This is another significant milestone towards our goal of a proper home for cycling in the North (see the The Vision tab).
