Town health check data published for Highland centres
11th December 2018
The Highland Council has today (Tuesday 11 December 2018) announced significant progress in the quality of collection and reporting on the performance of it's town centres through the release of new Town Centre Health Check "Story Maps".
The maps contain a huge amount of data on many aspects.
Town Centre Health Checks are a means of assessing the strength, vitality and performance of town centres over time. The results of health check exercises are used to formulate strategies for improvements and inform policy documents.
Data was gathered in summer 2018 with fifteen town centres being assessed. Each town centre was scored against ten indicators of health including ease of movement and night time economy. Unit vacancies were recorded along with classifications of premises to allow analysis of long term trends and identify availability of services across different locations.
To make information easier to access a "Story Map" was created to better explain the circumstances for each town centre - and to allow comparisons between locations. Presentation in this form includes graphs, text and mapping and photographs of individual shop units. Additional collected details of bus stops and routes, parking, areas of green space and the location of key facilities are also made available.
The use of the Story Map format allows information on a single location or aggregated information across the whole of Highland to be easily inspected using flexible navigation and viewing tools and can be accessed through the following links.
Inverness has its own individual Story Map accessible here:
https://highland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=a0419e7461c246eaab5304cb979c6856
The other Highland Towns audited are included in a second Story Map:
https://highland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=02347159886c44c58ec831359db2f24f
Chair of the Council's Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee, Cllr Allan Henderson said: "Checking the strength and vitality of our town centres is essential to enable better decision and policy making.
"These new health checks allow us all to base analysis on a snapshot in time. In future years, through identifying changes to this baseline, we will be able to better monitor the effectiveness of decisions made.
"Presenting detailed information and analysis of the data collected alongside a commentary on each location allows a range of users to access information relevant to them.
Highland Council is the first Local Authority in Scotland to present its Town Centre Health Check results using the Story Map format and it is intended that it will continue to do so in the years ahead."
Town Centres Studied - Alness; Beauly; Brora; Dingwall; Dornoch; Fort William; Golspie; Invergordon; Nairn; Portree; Tain; Thurso; Ullapool; Wick
Related Businesses
Related Articles
Yesterday
Council welcomes Visitor Levy flexibility plan
The Highland Council welcomes moves by the Scottish Government to introduce greater flexibility on how it could design a Visitor Levy Scheme for consultation. The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 currently provides local authorities with discretionary powers to implement percentage-based levies following statutory consultation.Yesterday
Highland Council is reaching out for views to shape its next 26/27 budget.
As it looks to set out its forthcoming priorities, the council is seeking involvement from members of the public, including businesses, community groups, parents, and young people. All their opinions are going to be crucial in deciding how Highland Council will take on its budget challenge for 2026-2027.Yesterday
Have your say in Thurso's future £100million investment by attending public consultation events
Thurso is to benefit from £100m investment in education and community facilities and are rolling out the first phase of public consultations on 9 and 10 December 2025. The Highland Council is inviting people that live, work, or study in Thurso, to come along to the public consultation events to have their say; this is an opportunity to help shape the future of Thurso, to gather views and ideas.2/12/2025
Finding new owners for empty homes - Scheme launched to help return more empty homes to active use
A new online portal has been launched to bring empty homeowners together with prospective buyers or developers with the aim of facilitating more properties to be used as homes again. Covering the whole of Scotland, this builds on the success of local pilots, referred to as "matchmaker schemes".1/12/2025
Consideration for short term let control area in Skye and Raasay
Steps towards introducing a short term let control area have been considered by Highland Council's Isle of Skye and Raasay area committee. On Monday (1 December 2025) the committee heard evidence to justify the grounds for the introduction of a Short Term Let Control Area covering all or part of Skye and Raasay.28/11/2025
Workforce North event spotlights Highland economy
EMPLOYERS and educators from across the Highlands have gathered to hear how a new initiative is aiming to transform the region's economy. Workforce North - A Call to Action brought together business leaders and teachers from primary and secondary schools from across the Highland Council area with a wide range of partners geared towards education, learning and skills development at Strathpeffer Pavillion.
27/11/2025
Council calls for meaningful engagement from Home Office Over 300 Asylum Seekers Being Sent to Inverness
The Highland Council continues to call for meaningful engagement from the Home Office over its plans to temporarily accommodate up to 300 adult male asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks, Inverness. It follows an email on Monday from Alex Norris MP, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, to Council Leader, Raymond Bremner, which failed to answer questions raised by the Council or address community concerns.27/11/2025
SSEN Transmission becomes first signatory to Highland Social Value Charter
SSEN Transmission has become the first company to sign up to the Highland Social Value Charter (HSVC), marking a significant milestone in delivering long-term socio-economic benefits for communities across the Highlands. Investment commitments from the company include funding for roads, new homes, jobs, and work for local contractors in addition to a local and regional fund for communities to apply to.25/11/2025
Wick - Aberdeen PSO - Update issued 24/11/2025
The Highland Council continues to work through the procurement process for the provision of the Wick Public Service Obligation for the Highland Council. We have now entered the preferred bidder stage and have entered a standstill period.25/11/2025
Highland Council winter road condition and school closure report for 25 November 2025
Maps of the Council's gritting routes by priority and policy are available online at www.highland.gov.uk/gritting (external link) The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time. It is not intended to imply that any individual route is entirely snow and ice free and drivers must be aware that conditions can change rapidly and make their own assessment of conditions for travelling.
Our Social Media
