Camanachd Square is 2 minutes walk from Somerled Square in the centre of Portree. It serves as a hub for sports and recreation, and includes the Community Centre, King George V Playing Fields, the former swimming pool site (now hardstanding), playpark, nursery and multi-use games area (known as the Red Pitch). There is also parking and a drop-off zone for the nursery.

 

The community facilities in Camanachd Square are owned, leased and maintained by multiple organisations. Many suffer from a lack of maintenance or investment. The Portree and Braes Community Trust believes that this is in part due to complexities in land ownership and the absence of an overarching development plan for the area.

 

The Trust sees great potential to maximise the benefit of the lands and buildings to the community and have commissioned local architect firm Rural Design to undertake an options appraisal and masterplan study of the area.  The intention is to re-imagine the future of the area, help secure future investment, and pave the way for community ownership and management.

 

The architects started work in early 2022 by researching the site's potential, and approaching local organisations and community groups to understand their needs and aspirations. From that initial phase of work, an initial set of ideas was produced for public consultation.

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Those initial ideas were shown on a series of eight display boards at the Agricultural Show on Saturday 6th August 2022. You can download a 3mb PDF of the display boards here.   A public webinar about the draft proposals was held on Tuesday 30th August 2022 and can be seen by clicking on this link.

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Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the draft proposals at these events and through the public survey in August and September.  Your comments are helping to refine the proposals.  The design team hopes to be ready to share more detailed proposals in Spring 2023.

 

If you have any questions please contact Nick Wright by telephoning 07900 334110 or emailing nick@nickwrightplanning.co.uk

 

The Trust is grateful to the Coastal Communities Fund for funding this project.