News Archive
24/2/2013
School meals sourcing summit
Changing the way food for school meals is sourced will help improve the standard of school meals. Scottish Ministers announced today that work would be taken forward to ensure that as much locally sourced food as possible will be served within Scotland's schools.24/2/2013
Time to seize the moment on offshore wind
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has warned the UK Government that investment uncertainty created by electricity market reform is risking thousands of offshore wind jobs. Ahead of a debate on the Energy, Enterprise and Tourism Committee’s report on the achievability of the Scottish Government’s renewable energy targets, Mr Ewing warned the UK coalition ministers’ mixed messages on energy policy and continuing uncertainty around Electricity Market Reform, including the lack of a decarbonisation target until at least 2016, is risking jobs, investment and economic growth The proposals outlined in the Energy Bill published in November 2012 lack measures to give investors confidence beyond 2020, putting the UK at a disadvantage compared to countries like Germany which has already set a clear target of 26GW from offshore wind by 2030.
24/2/2013
Ready For Reform
Local arrangements for police and fire and rescue are making excellent progress ahead of new single services going live on April 1, an event to share good practice heard today. Almost 200 people from across Scotland attended the Local Scrutiny and Engagement event in Edinburgh.
23/2/2013
Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership
Energy: Good news this week from Ignis Biomass Ltd, the owners and operators of the Combined Heat & Power Plant in Wick. The Company has invested an initial £2.5M in a new biomass boiler, which has now been installed and is operating.22/2/2013
Devices Placed In Pentland Firth to Take Measurements
Report by Bill Mowat The vessel was there for Mojo Maritime Ltd of Falmouth, Cornwall and was in port to deploy three 'Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler' (ADCP) devices on the seabed of the Pentland Firth's Inner Sound. This was undertaken for MeyGen Ltd, the company that holds the Crown Estate's seabed licence for that part of the Firth as a site for development as 'the world's first commercial tidal stream electricity power station'.
22/2/2013
Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd - Sale 21st February 2013
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (February, 21st) sold 28 registered Cheviot females at its Harbro sponsored show and sale, and 89 in lamb Cheviots for the dispersal of the Amat flock on behalf of W R Cameron. The judge Mr W.
22/2/2013
Council's Reassurance Over Provenance Of School Meals
Staff, parents and pupils in the Highlands are being reassured about the quality and safe consumption of the fresh meat and processed food used in school meals in the Highlands. Council Catering and Cleaning Manager Norma Murray has written to the head teachers of the Council's 177 primary schools, 29 secondary schools and three special schools in response to the national debate and general concerns surrounding the presence of horsemeat in some UK food products.22/2/2013
Farmers Preparing For Ever Higher Energy Prices As UK Oil Prices Rise Again
New Renewables Energy Show For Agriculture To Be Held At Thainstone Centre A renewables energy show for Scottish farming is to be held at the Thainstone Centre, Inverurie, in April. AgriEnergy 2013 will be a two-day event aimed at showcasing and discussing the latest developments in wind, solar, biomass, hydro and other forms of sustainable energy.21/2/2013
Caithness Councillor To Step Down
Highland Councillor Robert Coghill, who represents Landward Caithness, has given notice of his intention to resign, with effect from Thursday 28 February. Councillor Coghill, who helps run a farm at Halkirk, is standing down on medical advice.
21/2/2013
Six groups invited to progress Community Challenge Fund bids
Six Highland community groups have been selected to progress bids for funding from The Highland Council’s new Community Challenge Fund, which will provide £1 million for community projects exploring new ways of delivering services at a local level. The groups are Nairn Cricket Club, Kinlochleven Community Trust, Lochalsh Sports Association, Kyle and Lochalsh Community Trust, Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston Community Company and Lochaber Sports Association.
21/2/2013
North Roads Safety Group launch the next phase of their driver to make our roads safer
Driving home the safer roads educational message and building on the success of their previous campaigns, NOSDAT – North Of Scotland Driver Awareness Team, set up by local MSP David Stewart, will launch their next campaign ‘ Switch onto Safer Roads’ on Monday 25 February 2013. Previously the Group set up and ran the ‘Sensible Driving – Always Arriving’ Deadly Mates campaign, after the tragic deaths of two local Inverness teenagers in a road collision in the city.20/2/2013
New Biomass Boiler for Famous Whisky Distillery and Wick District Heating Scheme
Ignis Biomass Ltd has installed and is now operating a new biomass boiler to provide heat for the district heating scheme in Wick. The new 3.5 megawatt steam boiler is part of an initial £2.5m investment in the Wick district heating scheme, following its purchase by Ignis in June 2012.
20/2/2013
Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd - Sale 20th February 2013
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (February 20th) sold 497 store cattle, 7 adult head of breeding cattle and 56 OTM cattle. Bullocks (265) averaged 224.8p and sold to 266.0p per kg for a 250kg Limousin cross from 129 Roadside, Kinlochbervie and £1,410 gross for a 670kg Aberdeen Angus cross from The Laurels, Balblair.20/2/2013
Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd - Sale 19th February 2013
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (February, 19th) sold 94 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (44) averaged 208.0p (-0.8p) and sold to 228p per kg and £1,654.80 gross.19/2/2013
Twenty years of success for Caithness shellfish company
A Caithness based processor and supplier of locally sourced shellfish which recently expanded its business is celebrating 20 years of success based at Scrabster harbour. JPL Shellfish has been serving customers across the UK since it was established in 1992, and an increase in requests to export live shellfish to new international markets has resulted in an expansion of its premises.
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19/2/2013Boost for Pultneytown Advice Centre
At today’s Caithness and Sutherland Area Committee members awarded Pulteneytown People’s project £90,506 from the Deprived Area Fund which will be used to provide services to local people through the Advice Centre. This will be used to support the work of the one-stop shop to provide local people help and advice with benefits, staying on at school, re-training, housing issues and applying for jobs.19/2/2013
PASSENGER BOOST FOR REGIONAL AIRPORTS
Scotland’s regional airport operator got off to a strong start to 2013, with a significant rise in passenger numbers in January. Latest figures from airport group HIAL show that its 11 airports handled 84,981 passengers last month, an increase of 9.1% on January 2012.19/2/2013
Inverness Campus Update
Work to develop infrastructure for Inverness Campus at Beechwood, Inverness, is now well underway, with completion of this phase of the project due early summer this year. This means development of Inverness College UHI's new building will soon commence and plots on Inverness Campus will become available for other organisations and businesses.
19/2/2013
Join the Caithness Conversation: 'How can funding from onshore wind farms be used to benefit Caithness?'
RWE npower renewables (RWE NRL) is encouraging local people in Caithness to take part in the Caithness Conversation, a discussion about how the community funds linked to wind farms can best be used to support the area. RWE NRL, one of the UK's leading renewable energy developers, invests more than £75,000 per annum in Caithness through community funds associated with its wind farms.19/2/2013
