// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Inverness Common Good Fund say to its finances? "You're in good funds.

The Inverness Common Good Fund is a common good fund administered by Highland Council for the former burgh of Inverness, Scotland. It holds property and financial investments and uses its income to maintain common good assets and support projects and activities benefiting residents of Inverness. Audit Scotland described it in 2015 as the largest of the common good funds administered by Highland Council. At 31 March 2025, its assets were valued at £32.493 million.

History

The fund traces its origins to property and rights held by the medieval burgh of Inverness. A charter issued by David II on 3 March 1369 granted the burgesses and community of Inverness the burgh together with the lands of Drakies, fishings, mills, tolls and other rights, in return for an annual payment of 80 marks. Revenue from the lands formed the basis of the later Common Good Fund and was used towards the obligations and expenses of the burgh.

Scotland's burgh councils were abolished in 1975 and their common good property passed to the new district or islands councils. The assets were subsequently transferred to the present unitary local authorities during the further reorganisation of Scottish local government in 1996. During the intervening period the Inverness fund was administered by Inverness District Council; council records include decisions taken by the district council concerning Common Good property in the 1980s. Highland Council became the administering authority following the 1996 reorganisation.

Assets and finances

The fund owns commercial and civic property in Inverness. Audit Scotland recorded in 2015 that its investment-property portfolio included Inverness Town House, the Victorian Market, offices and industrial sites. Rental income in the 2026/27 budget included income from industrial estates, the Victorian Market, the Town House, 1–5 Church Street and other properties.

At 31 March 2025 the fund had total assets of £32.493 million. These comprised £25.315 million in investment properties, £4.419 million in financial investments, £2.204 million in heritage assets and £49,000 in plant and equipment, together with current assets and liabilities. Revenue funds, representing the reserves available for expenditure, stood at £4.925 million. During 2024/25 the fund received total income of £3.144 million, including £2.225 million from rents.

Changes to the use and classification of individual properties have affected the fund's income. In 2022 Highland Council decided to move staff out of office accommodation in the Town House, ending payments of about £370,000 a year to the fund for use of the building. A title investigation reported in 2023 concluded that the Town House car park, which had also been generating income for the fund, had been acquired for statutory purposes in the 1930s and was not a common good asset. The budgeted income from the car park for 2023/24 was £24,000.

Administration and grants

The fund operates under Highland Council, with powers delegated to the City of Inverness Area Committee. The Inverness Common Good Fund Sub-Committee scrutinises its administration and can approve grants and other expenditure of up to £10,000 within the approved budget. Applications for more than £10,000 are referred to the area committee. The fund is administered principally for the benefit of residents of the former burgh of Inverness, and applicants for grants are required to demonstrate a direct benefit to Inverness and its residents.

Funding is used for community and cultural projects, poverty and inequality programmes, conferences, city promotion and partnership projects. During 2025/26 the fund awarded 76 grants totalling £538,693. These included 40 poverty and inequality grants, 11 grants from its general grants budget, five conference grants and 11 partnership-working grants.

Governance and financial management

Audit Scotland reviewed the governance and financial management of the fund as part of its 2014/15 audit of Highland Council. Between April 2011 and March 2014, the fund spent £2.2 million more than it generated in income, exhausting its cash balances and leaving it owing £361,000 to the council's loans fund. As advances from the loans fund to Common Good Funds were not permitted, long-term investments were sold to repay the amount.

At the same time, the fund was preparing for major expenditure on repairs to the Town House and refurbishment of offices at 1–5 Church Street. Audit Scotland reported that the planned works would require most of its stock-market investment portfolio to be sold, reducing it from about £10 million to £3.5 million, and said it was unclear from council records whether alternatives, including external borrowing, had been considered before the decision was made. The audit also recorded an £18,000 restitution payment from Highland Council to the fund after deficiencies were identified in the administration of a lease at Grant Street.

The use of the fund for discretionary expenditure has periodically been debated by councillors. In March 2016, the City of Inverness Area Committee voted 8–7 to spend £23,000 on promotion associated with the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart and £3,000 on traffic modelling for a weekend when the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival and Black Isle Show coincided. Some councillors questioned whether the expenditure provided sufficient common good benefit. At the same meeting, £225,000 was approved for improvements at the Ness Islands.

Audit Scotland's 2024/25 annual audit of Highland Council treated the Inverness Common Good Fund as a component of the council group and reported that no significant issues had been identified in its audit work on the fund.

External links

• Inverness Common Good Fund at Highland Council