MUCH of the growth of Inverness over the past decade has suffered from a lack of forward planning — leaving entire areas with little or no infrastructure — Highland Council's convener conceded yesterday.

Sandy Park, previous chairman of the council's planning committee overseeing the development of the city, acknowledged too much emphasis had been placed on providing housing as quickly as possible.

And although no planning regulations were broken, he accepted it would have been better if the community services and facilities needed had been planned before the houses.

His admission comes as new figures revealed that 27 per cent of all the new houses built in the Highlands last year were in Inverness South — which feeds into the congested yet to be completed southern bypass.

A total of 489 homes were built at Culduthel Mains Farm / Slackbuie, Wester Inshes, Milton of Leys and Woodside of Culloden. Across the region 1807 new homes were completed — an increase of 7 per cent on the 2006 figure.

"The sheer scale of the expansion of Inverness took everyone by surprise and it is still very buoyant," said Councillor Park (Nairn).

"We have got to accept the criticism that it would have been better to get the infrastructure in with the houses. We have got to hold our hands up and recognise that. That is why we now concentrate on smarter planning where we get everything in place first."

He said in future he wanted to see more forward planning around new housing, as had been seen with the recent A96 Corridor Masterplan, setting out plans for development between Inverness and Nairn over the next 30 years. "That looks at what schools are needed, where the shops will go and what community facilities will be needed so this doesn't happen again," he added.

"Network Rail was involved because we looked at a new station at Dalcross and Scottish Water looked at water supply for all these new homes."

Inverness South includes Milton of Leys where residents mounted a vociferous campaign when they discovered their houses had been built with no shops, schools or community facilities.

With no facilities within walking distance, residents of this and many other new developments on the fringes of Inverness are forced to use their cars to reach the nearest shop. That has prompted NHS Highland chairman Garry Coutts, who formerly served on Edinburgh City Council's planning committee, to claim that poor urban design is contributing to the region's obesity problems.

He is calling for a change in planning laws which see land divided up into separate zones for housing, retail and industry. "That would actually allow local authorities to properly plan settlements the way it was done hundreds of years ago," he said.

"In Beauly, for example, the square was laid out first and businesses were encouraged to set up there and then houses were built round about."

Conservative Highland MSP Mary Scanlon, an Inverness South resident, was not surprised to hear more than a quarter of all Highland residential developments over the past year had taken place in her neighbourhood.

"Highland Council and developers have not been able to work together to bring a simple road link to connect these developments to Inshes Park," she said. "That would instantly make a huge difference to the congestion we see at the Inshes roundabout.

"The council has had its eye on the Council Tax it can charge rather than building communities or improving amenities for the people living there."

g.burke@inverness-courier.co.uk