News Archive

Highland Childcare Company Introduces New Service To Fill Gaps In Provision

Parents of young children in the Highlands, who currently have difficulty finding childcare provision to meet their needs, are being offered a more flexible service by Direct Childcare.   The Inverness-based company, which currently serves much of the Highland area, is in the process of recruiting and training sitters who will take care of children outside of normal working hours within the child's home.  

NDA Confirms Scottish Regional Base Will Be In Caithness

The Convener of The Highland Council's Caithness area Committee, Councillor David Flear has welcomed confirmation that the NDA (Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) will establish its Scottish Regional Headquarters in Caithness.   The NDA, who will take over responsibility for decommissioning of the Dounreay site on 1 April next year, confirmed at a stakeholder workshop in Thurso today (Thursday) that they are currently looking at properties in the county for their new regional base.  

Five Consortia Short-listed For 100 Million Contract

Five consortia have been short-listed by UKAEA for the largest single construction project yet in the Dounreay Site Restoration Plan.   Subject to formal Ministerial approval, they will be invited to tender for the construction of a plant to condition and store a variety of liquid and solid intermediate-level wastes that are a legacy of Dounreays role as an experimental reactor establishment.  

Ukaea Awards £3 Million Reactor Clean-up Contract

The UK Atomic Energy Authority has awarded a contract to ALSTEC Ltd for the construction of a new plant to clean up radioactive effluent that will arise during the next phase of decommissioning the Prototype Fast Reactor at Dounreay.   The effluent will be produced during cleaning of components and facilities that are coated with sodium liquid metal which was used as a reactor coolant.  

Contact Us Page Repaired and Working

With all of the recent changes to the site, the contact us page has been neglected.   It was only today the discovery was made that enquiries being sent via that page were disappearing into the ether.  

Caithness Wins Major Grant For £3.5 Million District Heating Scheme

Highland Councillors in Caithness are delighted with the success of a major funding application to promote the first wood-waste fuelled Combined Heat and Power system in Scotland at Wick.  The Energy Saving Trust has announced a £1.54 million grant today (Wednesday 16 September 2004) which is fundamental to the success of the £3.5 million first phase of this project.  

CASE Monthly Report for July 2004

Overall, the number of people unemployed in Caithness and Sutherland fell from 808 last month to 755.   The revised unemployment rates in the Sutherland, Wick and Thurso 'Travel to Work Areas' respectively are as follows (corresponding figures for last month are in brackets): 3.4% (3.7%), 4.4% (4.4%) and 2.4% (2.8%).  

Major Refit : Update

After many weeks of pacing about, much pulling out of hair, writing and rewriting 1000's of lines of code, the main part of the Business Index refit is now complete.  These changes cover the page for every business in every category.  Our submissions system has also changed, adding new submissions directly into the database for approval.  This should remove the "bounced e-mail" problems some people have encountered.  All that remains to be rebuilt is the news section, which should be finished soon.  So...  other than that and a few wee bits to tidy up, we're almost there :) Please note that all e-mails received regarding changes to business details and new submissions have now been dealt with, so if you find that your business information has not been updated, it means that we never received your information, please use the contact page, for the moment, to send updated information..  

Luxury Tourist Accommodation At Latheronwheel

Brand new luxury self-catering apartments with indoor leisure facilities are to be built at Latheronwheel, Caithness.   Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE) has awarded City Centre Estates (Leisure) Ltd a funding package to turn a group of derelict buildings in the village into three, four-star standard holiday homes with swimming pool.  

New Denture Venture in Caithness

A Caithness-based dental technician has plenty to smile about after being awarded a grant to start his own business.   Qualified dental technician, Allan Young has been awarded a financial package from Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE) via the HIE-Starts programme.