The Highland Council produced a draft strategy for the A96 corridor in August 2005 proposing areas considered suitable for accommodating some of the growth of Inverness – Europe’s fastest growing city – over the next 30 to 50 years.

The A96 corridor, an area from east Inverness to, and including, Nairn, had already been identified in planning policy documents as the area most suited to accommodating Inverness’s future growth.

They have produced development framework plans, which show how the east of Inverness and Nairn should grow together. They have also drawn up a green framework plan. This provides a background to the development areas in the corridor, providing safeguards to ensure settlements are defined and protected.

The A96 Corridor Strategy was approved by the Council in September 2007. It will form part of the next draft Local Development Plan which shall be subject to further public consultations.