Please help save our Highland town’s last remaining greenspace
Greenfield site
The last link to nature in town
Ancient woodland
Threat of irreversible damage
Space for our children and grandchildren
If we lose this wild place then it's gone forever
We must act now to save this vital asset
We are in the midst of a climate and environmental emergency. In 2023, the Scottish Government National Planning Framework (NPF4) was adopted, setting out policies for the development and use of land, with the protection of the environment and climate at its core.
As well as compliance with policy, we have legal processes that authorities must follow when assessing any planning application. Yet, time and time again, for those unaware of what these policies and processes are, developments are approved without question and planning decisions are made that should not have been.
Save Our Green Space (SOGS) is a community group formed in response to one such decision regarding a housing development that threatens our town’s last remaining wild, traffic-free greenspace; our mission is to safeguard this historical and biodiverse area – central to our community's heritage and wellbeing – and hold decision-makers to account.
We have spent hundreds of hours between us learning about planning policies and the law, speaking to experts and consulting with legal professionals. We had a strong case, rooted in dismissal of policy, flawed ecological surveys and misleading information regarding the Inverness & Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and housing. Our solicitor submitted letters on our behalf to inform the Council of their obligations to adhere to policy, but astonishingly they approved the development. We had no choice but to bring a Judicial Review against the Highland Council Planning Authority - please find out more on our Support Our Cause page.
This issue is endemic across Scotland. Our fight is not simply a case of our town being deprived of some open space. Its greater significance is in the environmental damage which will follow from continuing to ignore policy and legal process leading to the development of greenfield sites that should not be touched. Our case serves as a critical opportunity to help set the precedent Scotland-wide, that bypassing planning process and ignoring both local and national policy in the face of big development will not go unchecked.