Lochaber Health & Social Care Redesign

The application to amend the Planning in Principle (PIP), was approved at the Highland Council Planning Committee on 3rd December 2025. The application is available to view under ref 25/03053/S42.

The Section 42 application is a request to amend the existing Planning in Principle permission, formerly known as Outline Planning Permission. We expect the full and detailed planning application for the hospital, to be submitted in February or March 2026.

The previous planning Permission in Principle (ref 18/03647/PIP) relates to the whole Blar Mor masterplan and dates from 2018. We’ve applied to amend two elements of this:

• The PiP as existing refers to a hospital of up to 8500m². This was an estimate based on adding a percentage to footprint of the current Belford Hospital, which is just over 6000m². As we now have a clearer understand of what the new facility needs to include and how it will be laid out, the hospital footprint has increased. We’ve therefore applied to increase to footprint to 12,400m² plus an allowance for an energy centre of 1000m². This is slightly more than the current design in order to ensure that if anything needs to change as the design progresses, we don’t need to apply to change the PiP again.

• The PiP as existing refers to separate hospital and STEM centre sites and allocates specific site areas to each. We agreed in 2021 to adopt a ‘campus approach’ with the STEM centre, including a shared car park and service yard. Design work on the detail of the site layout is still underway and we’ll then need to agree with the STEM centre which areas each party will own, and which areas may be shared or owned by one party with a right of access for the other. This is further complicated by the STEM not having a clear timeline for construction. We’ve therefore applied to adjust how the site is described in the permission, proposing one overall site area for a combined STEM and hospital site. This will allow us to agree the detail of ownership and development boundaries in conjunction with the STEM Centre to best suit both developments, while remaining compliant with the PiP.

*STEM Centre stands for Science Technology Engineering and Maths. The building is part of the West Highland College UHI campus.

Highland Health and Social Care Partnership are working with In Control Scotland and Lochaber communities to start conversations about how care and support could work better for everyone in Lochaber.

We will be using the Engagement Hub to share updates, letting you know how you can take part in this work and when we will be visiting your community.

We will also be sharing printable information and ask if you could share these with members of your community who may not be able to take part in online conversations.

Our goal is to reach as many people as we can so we can truly understand peoples experience of social care and we can have meaningful conversations about what the future may look like for you and your community.

We’ve been working with Keppie on a video that gives an overview of the new hospital layout and some of main details on the services to be provided.

Building work for the new hospital is expected to start in 2027.

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