News Archive
2/6/2016
Public opinion to be sought on Approaching Inverness project
Three ‘demonstration' projects that will improve the visual impact of approach roads to Inverness and provide a sense of place for visitors, residents, businesses and investors have met the approval of Members of The Highland Council's City of Inverness Area Committee. A city gateway structure will be created for the approach to Clachnaharry on the Beauly-Inverness road; and the A82 Telford roundabout and A82 Longman central reservation will be improved in partnership with Transport Scotland.2/6/2016
New head of finance for North and West
NHS Highland has appointed Ros Philip to be its new head of finance for North and West Highland. As part of her role Ros will also be a member of the N&W unit senior leadership team, and will be based at Larachan House, Dingwall.
31/5/2016
Farm payments
Rural Economy Secretary pledges to put system on ‘even keel'. Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has pledged to make resolving the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payment problems his first and foremost priority.30/5/2016
26 Scottish councils join forces on digital transformation
A consortium of twenty-six local authorities in Scotland are joining forces to improve council services using digital technology. The Local Government Digital Transformation Board are set to recruit a chief digital officer and team who will be expected 'to shape and lead a programme of change to radically improve how local services work and how the councils serve citizens.' The consortium represents most of the 32 Scottish councils including Glasgow, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Highland Council.30/5/2016
Rhoda Grant MSP Calls For Reassurances On Police Control Rooms
Highlands & Islands (Labour) MSP Rhoda Grant who last month again raised her continued concerns about the Police Control Room closures, after she learned that the procurement process for the new Police IT system had been withdrawn, has written once more to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson, asking for certain reassurances. Rhoda Grant said "I have continually called for a halt to be called to the closure of our North Control Rooms until such a time as everyone is as reasonable reassured as they can be, that a more efficient and effective system is being introduced which places the safety of the public at the top of the list.28/5/2016
Recommendations for councillor numbers and wards submitted to Scottish Ministers
Recommendations include.- Highland council Reduced by 6 councillors including 2 in Caithness. Caithness to go from 3 wards to 2 and from 10 councillors down to 8.27/5/2016
Subsea 7, Seaway Heavy Lifting Land £896 million Offshore Wind Contract
Subsea 7 has teamed up with Seaway Heavy Lifting on an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract for wind farm turbine foundations and array cables to be installed at the 558MW Beatrice offshore wind farm located in the Outer Moray Firth, Scotland. The value of the contract is over £896 million, according to Seaway Heavy Lifting.
27/5/2016
Assembly of the new steel towers between Dounreay and Thurso South
Work to reinforce the overhead power line that forms the spine of the existing electricity transmission network in Caithness passed the half way mark this month (May 2016), with progress continuing apace in the good weather. The new 275 kilovolt line will link substations at Dounreay, Thurso and Spittal, where the underground and subsea cable to Moray is set to begin its 100 mile journey.
27/5/2016
Highlands of Scotland renews Fairtrade status
The Highlands of Scotland has renewed its status as a Fairtrade Zone which was first achieved on 13 September 2012. Highland Councillor Hamish Wood and Fairtrade champion said: "Highland has now renewed its Fairtrade status - a process which takes place every 2 years - which is very good for the region.
27/5/2016
Scottish Hydro Electric Transmissions £1 billion investment in the north of Scotland
In the last six years, Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission (SHE Transmission) has seen a £1 billion investment in the infrastructure across the north of Scotland. The network itself is made up of more than 5,000km of high voltage overhead lines, underground and subsea cables and serves around 70% of the land mass of Scotland.
27/5/2016
Businesses invited to Doing Business in France event
Businesses in the Highlands and Islands new to exporting or looking to move into new markets are invited to a ‘Doing Business in France' event in Inverness next week. Organised by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the free information and advice event will be held at the Kingsmills Hotel from 9:30am to 1:30pm on Tuesday 7 June.24/5/2016
90 Jobs For Wick in £2.5 Billion Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm
* 84 turbines will provide 588MW of power once operational in 2019. * New windfarm expects to provide an average annual gross employment i Scotland of over 890 jobs during construction and is one of Scotland's largest private infrastructure project.
24/5/2016
Foreign investment success welcomed
News that the Highlands and Islands helped make 2015 a record breaking year of inward investment in Scotland has been welcomed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). The latest annual survey by EY shows a record level of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects won by Scotland; up by 51% and job creation up 52% in 2015.23/5/2016
Development agencies welcome SSEs Beatrice offshore wind announcement
Confirmation that SSE is to go ahead with its investment in the Beatrice Offshore Wind project has been welcomed by both of Scotland's economic development agencies. The project is expected to deliver billions of pounds of investment during construction, installation and longer-term operation and maintenance of the windfarm.21/5/2016
Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership - Update
Week Commencing 16th May 2016 Energy & Business Services: One of the main project focal points for partners over the past three years has been the potential to attract the operations and maintenance base for the Beatrice Offshore Wind development to Wick, and news this week that this moves ever closer with a piece in the RE News online feed regarding the Final Investment Decision for the project. http://renews.biz/102675/sse-to-unleash-beatrice/ Following this week's movement of large transformers from Scrabster harbour to the new Thurso South electricity sub-station, this coming weekend will see JGC Engineering moving three very large support modules to Scrabster Harbour.21/5/2016
External review team inspects maternity services
An external review team visited NHS Highland this week to examine paediatric and neonatal services at Caithness General Hospital in Wick and Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. During the visit, the team met a wide range of clinicians and managers at both hospitals as well as staff from Scottish Ambulance Service.21/5/2016
Highland Council representative appointed to NHS Highland board
Highland Council has appointed Councillor Jaci Douglas as the Council's representative to serve on the Board of NHS Highland. Cllr Jaci Douglas currently chairs the area District Partnership for Badenoch and Strathspey and chairs the Highland Council's Working Group on Dementia.20/5/2016
Preparing to Export
24 May 2016 to 25 May 2016 Where: Nairn Location of this event may be changed depending on registrations, to allow for a more central venue for all participants. Highlands and Islands Enterprise, in partnership with Scottish Development International, is running a FREE two day workshop on how to successfully prepare your business to trade overseas.20/5/2016
Farm funding applications
Deadline extended by one month. The deadline for submitting Single Application Forms (SAF) for farm funding has been extended by one month to June 15, 2016.19/5/2016
