Highland Council Agrees A Financial Plan
27th June 2021
A financial plan which will invest a further £10M across a range of projects in phase 2 of the investment strategy for Health and Prosperity and £54M of capital investment in schools.
The detailed designs and costings for the five schools identified for investment will be brought to Council in September for approval. Letters have been sent to parents regarding the decision made today, and arrangements will be made to keep parents informed of the plans.
The plans include medium term financial sustainability with £24.7M unearmarked reserves set aside to manage any future risk and uncertainty.
£9.8M funding was agreed in March for a range of projects in an economic prosperity fund, a Visitor Management Plan and place based investment.
An additional investment of £5.5M across a number of schemes will be made during 2021/22 in phase 2 of the Council's Health and Prosperity Plan.
Phase 2 will see £0.3M invested in addressing poverty, £0.4M for improvements in Burials and Cremations, £1.250M in match-funding for carbon reduction schemes, £0.8M for ICT to enable new ways of working and £0.050M towards Eden Court redevelopment.
A further £3.5M in a third phase in the autumn. The indicative proposals for Phase 3 of the investment will be followed by detailed bids to come forward to Council in October.
Phases 2 and 3 of the investment plan will see a further investment of £10.6M in roads and the Corran Ferry.
This will bring the total spend on roads infrastructure to over £20M per annum for a two year period.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Margaret Davidson said: "I wish to thank senior officers for the tremendous work over the past year in bringing the Council, in the most challenging times, into a more resilient financial position which enables us to be able to make these substantial investments.
“We are well aware that we will need to make recurring savings in the years ahead. Our investment plans take into account the need for continuing medium term financial sustainability and ensuring we have sufficient non ear-marked Reserves to mitigate against future risks and uncertainty, whilst investing in Recovery."
Depute Leader, Cllr Alasdair Christie added: “We agreed a Health and Prosperity Plan to take us through recovery from the impacts of COVID on individuals, families, communities and businesses across the Highlands. The aim is to stimulate and breathe life into our economy.
“We agreed £9.8M of investment in March and today’s decision will see a further £10M invested in a second phase of schemes, and heralds investment ahead of almost £10M more in the autumn.
“This together with approved capital investment in schools will have a direct, positive and lasting impact on Highland communities.”
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
