News Archive
11/12/2017
Scottish million pound property sales fell by over a third (35%) in the first half of 2017 compared to last year. Million pound property sales suffered the most in Scotland compared to the rest of Great Britain.
11/12/2017
Overseas Scottish food and drink exports were worth £4.3 billion in the first nine months of 2017, an increase of almost £500 million compared to the same period last year. Food exports were valued at about £1.2 billion increasing by 20% - around £200 million more than the same period in 2016.
11/12/2017
Three organisations from across the Highlands and Islands have teamed up in a new collaboration to boost life sciences in the region. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the University of the Highlands and Islands, and NHS Highland have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as they progress joint initiatives on Inverness Campus.
11/12/2017
Budget will prioritise growth and innovation. Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has said his priority is to build Scotland's future as he prepares to present his second Draft Budget to Parliament.
11/12/2017
Scotland's Chief Statistician has published the Estimate of Community Owned Land in Scotland 2017 publication. The publication presents the area of land in community ownership, the number of land parcels/assets in community ownership and the number of community groups that own land parcels/assets.
10/12/2017
Spittal is a new electricity convertor station and is part of the £1.1bn Caithness-Moray project which represents the largest investment in the north of Scotland's electricity network since the hydro development era of the 1950s and is the largest capital investment project undertaken by the SSE Group to date. It is also the largest Living Wage contract ever awarded in the UK, demonstrating SSEN's strong commitment to ensure all employees working on its sites get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
10/12/2017
The Beatrice project reached a significant milestone yesterday as the final cluster of foundation piles was safely installed marking the end of the piling phase of offshore construction. A total of 86 clusters of four piles (344 individual piles) are now in place in the Moray Firth.
10/12/2017
Week commencing 4 December 2017. Energy & business services: The installation of all 86 sets of foundation piles for the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm was completed this week - a major project milestone for the company.
With Storm Caroline hitting the Highlands yesterday, today's heavy snowfall and the forecast for a drop in temperatures over the next 48 hours, the Highland Council's crews and winter vehicles have been busy in action. The fleet includes 105 gritters, 42 footpath tractors and over the coming months 200 plus staff will be providing winter maintenance services.
8/12/2017
The European Commission has today recommended to the European Council (Article 50) to conclude that sufficient progress has been made in the first phase of the Article 50 negotiations with the United Kingdom. It is now for the European Council (Article 50) on 15 December 2017 to decide if sufficient progress has been made, allowing the negotiations to proceed to their second phase.
Road condition reports by The Highland Council's Community Services for the morning of Thursday 7 December 2017 are as follows: Caithness and Sutherland: Most roads are affected by snow and ice. Treatment in progress.
The high winds during Storm Caroline today have caused some damage to part of the roof of the Wick campus gym, causing the metal flashing around a roof light to become detached. The school was already closed to pupils today due to the adverse weather.
7/12/2017
Council road budgets have been cut by 21% since 2012 which is having a serious detrimental effect on Scotland's road network, says a UNISON report released today (Friday 8 December 2017). UNISON Scotland's report, Road to Nowhere, consulted council road teams across Scotland including: road workers, engineers, technicians, team leaders and managers.
Following the high winds forecast and experienced this week due to Storm Caroline, The Highland Council is encouraging landowners to check trees and vegetation near to public roads which may have been damaged. Roads affected by fallen trees this morning were near Beauly; Achnagarron near Invergordon and Lochaber which staff are clearing.
Wick Campus, including Wick High School, Newtonpark Primary School and High Life Highland Leisure facilities will remain closed on Friday 8 December 2017. The closure is due to high winds during Storm Caroline today which caused some damage to part of the roof of the Wick campus gym, causing the metal flashing around a roof light to become detached.
The Highland Council expresses its deep disappointment at the news of further branch closures by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Leader of the Highland Council Margaret Davidson said: "This will cause real difficulties for many customers and small businesses.
5/12/2017
MORAY Council's budget proposals are now publicly available for viewing and comment. The savings, which have been suggested to balance the 2018-19 budget, are expected to save the council £6.7 million.
Highland consumers who have lost money to a scam involving payment through Western Union wire transfer between 1st January 2004 and 19th January 2017, are being encouraged by Highland Council Trading Standards to file a claim for a refund with America's Federal Trade Commission in a bid to get some or if not all of their money back. In January 2017, Western Union agreed to pay $586 million for turning a blind eye to scammers and other criminals who used its service to trick customers into paying for bogus prizes, loans, jobs, discounted products and other financial rewards in exchange for money upfront.
4/12/2017
Councils are showing increasing signs of financial stress and face even tougher challenges ahead, says the Accounts Commission. In its annual financial overview published today the local authority watchdog says funding has reduced while costs and demands have increased, and more councils are using reserves to fund services.
2/12/2017
This item is from Eann Sinclair's blog but it really needs an item on its own - This week: Scottish Provincial Press continues its impressive run of Energy North supplements under Alan Hendry's editorship: this month it carries a further mix of stories on key projects and issues such as Beatrice Offshore Windfarm (with Wick Harbour Authority's Willie Watt calling its lease agreement with BOWL "the best news Wick harbour has had in 100 years"). Go to page 8 in the magazine to read how transformational the news is for Wick harbour, the town and the county of Caithness.