Brackla Harbour Development

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Your one-stop shop for everything you need to enjoy a relaxing break around magical Loch Ness in the heart of the beautiful Highlands of Scotland.

November 2011
The Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition were winners of the very prestigious ‘Best Large Visitor Experience in the Highlands and Islands’ at the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards, held at the Drumossie Hotel. David Bremner, Director, said ‘We were very pleased to be short-listed initially and absolutely delighted to win this award. All the hard work and determination of our staff led us to the award and they are all to be highly commended. We are making some interesting changes to the Exhibition this year and hopefully our product will continue to attract visitors and locals alike’

Highland Tour company achieves Top Accolade. Highland Experience Tours have been awarded 5 Stars by the National Visitscotland Tourism Board, the highest possible grade available. Michael Bremner, a Director of HE said, "It is a testament to all the hard work our staff have put in over the last year, and we are delighted with our award. Now the customer can be assured of a first class product and service on any of our Highland Experience Tours".
Please see the Highland Experience Section of this site for further details.

The family run "Drum Hotel" ... Offers you a very warm and friendly visit to the Highlands of Scotland. Whether you are arriving by car, bus, cycling or walking the Great Glen Way, the hotel caters for all needs. 29 rooms ...Book now >>

Award Winning Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition 17 Language translations and 11 language narrations. A hi-tech multi-media presentation leads you through 7 themed areas and through 500 million years of history. More >>

Quality Shopping
The Whisky Shop
Kiltmakers
House of Heraldry
Local Crafts
The Nessie Shop
Cashmere & Woollens
Tartans
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The countdown begins for the decision on Brackla Harbour planning application

Support the Brackla Harbour proposals

Our proposals for Brackla Harbour will now be discussed at a forthcoming special meeting of the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Planning Committee on Monday 21st March.

We recently held our third open day to communicate our vision for the improved Brackla Harbour. The open day itself was a great success and saw over 60 attendees from local businesses, organisations and community groups drop by to visit our exhibition. We were delighted that so many people came to offer their support and share their views on the future of tourism at Loch Ness.

Our plans to develop at our existing brownfield site will allow our tourism facility at Brackla Harbour to grow and further contribute to a competitive, sustainable and adaptable Highland economy. Our aspirations are to develop safe, direct access to the Loch (including direct disabled access), improve parking facilities and enable further leisure development, including improved retail and shore-side dining options. These plans will create new employment at Loch Ness without displacing any jobs and will complement the existing tourism facilities in the area.

We believe that our proposals are the most positive way forward for the Brackla Harbour area ...

ALL THE LAND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT IS OWNED BY THE BREMNER FAMILY
Because we own the Brownfield land on which the development is proposed, there are no possible problems with land acquisition. Additionally, due to the fact we have run the existing Loch Ness Centre for three generations, we have good working relationships with all surrounding businesses.
THE HARBOUR IS AN EXISTING TOURISM FACILITY
As an existing facility looking to be improved and enhanced in a safe and environmentally friendly way, the proposals are comparatively simple. The proposals would also create direct, safe access to the loch – something which is currently unavailable to visitors. This direct access would also include provisions for disabled visitors. We believe that our vision for consolidating and enhancing our existing brownfield site at Brackla Harbour successfully responds to the emerging Highland wide Local Development Plan and we wish to work in collaboration with the Council, relevant stakeholders and the community to develop a sustainable, viable and deliverable high quality tourism facility.
THE DEVELOPMENT WILL CREATE JOBS
If our planning application is successful, our plans for the site will create new employment at Loch Ness without displacing any jobs and will complement the existing tourism facilities in the area. Our plans are deliverable immediately and are designed to also benefit all of the businesses that call our base home by creating room for expansion and opportunity for business growth for the next ten to twenty years. This includes our current tenant, Jacobite Cruises Ltd, who is looking to pursue its own development proposals 500m away from Brackla Harbour. Despite their wishes to move, we remain committed to providing a hub for Jacobite as we have enjoyed a strong working relationship with them for last 20 years.
THERE IS CONSIDERABLE SUPPORT FROM THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
Many local businesses and indeed the neighbouring Clansman Hotel have pledged their support to the development.
ACCESS HAS BEEN AGREED WITH TRANSPORT SCOTLAND
This ensures that, if consented, the development could be operational very quickly, with little disruption to the surrounding area. We are also working to include a public bus stop as part of the development creating a much safer drop off point for users of public transport (presently buses drop off directly on the main A82 road).

Should our application be granted planning permission on March 21st at the special meeting of Highland Council’s Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Planning Applications Committee, we wish to continue to work in collaboration with the Council, relevant stakeholders and the community to develop a sustainable, viable and deliverable high quality tourism facility.

If you agree that our proposals would be a positive step towards the future of tourism at Loch Ness then please lend us your support! Please send your views to Highland Council’s planning department by clicking here ...

Further Information

For further information on our proposals please pay us a visit! Our exhibition boards from our Open Day are still on display at the Loch Ness Centre, Drumnadrochit and we would be more than happy for you to drop by to view them over a cup of coffee or tea. Please contact Robbie Bremner on 07770 726 752 or debbie@lochness.com to arrange a suitable time.

Visualisations of how the new facility will look can be viewed here:

Visualisation: One | Two | Three

If you are unable to visit the Loch Ness Centre, feel free to download our press coverage, exhibition boards and brochure below ...

Downloads (PDF format):

Brackla Harbour Visualisations

Brackla Harbour Brochure

Press (PDF format):

Inverness Courier 18 Jan 2011

Inverness Courier 21 Jan 2011

Inverness Courier 4 Feb 2011

Inverness Courier 11 Feb 2011

Press and Journal 19 Jan 2011