Levelling Up Fund Bid For North Coast 500 And Portree Harbour
5th July 2022
At the Highland Council meeting held on, 30 June 2022, elected Members agreed to progress the submission of two separate bids for round two of the UK Levelling Up Fund, these include the North Coast 500 (Transport Bid) and Portree Harbour (standalone Heritage bid).
Economy and Infrastructure Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "The Levelling Up Fund offers Highland an opportunity to bid for funds that will make a transformational impact across our communities. Officers and community groups have collaborated to build two strong bid applications for round two of the fund and we are confident that they demonstrate community partnership, place making and significant economic and infrastructure improvements to both the North Coast 500 and Isle of Skye communities.
“Improved transport connectivity and active travel across parts of the North Coast 500 area, Green Tourism Project and the upgrade to Portree Harbour to a quality we all aspire to achieve across Highland is ambitious but one that offers resilience and economic strengthening in rural communities."
Members agreed to the proposed resubmission of a transport bid based on the North Coast 500. Concentrating the funding into three elements which are costed at £44m and outlined below:
•Achnasheen to Kishorn: NC500 tourist route and Kishorn Port Access.
•Ullapool to Bettyhill: NC500 tourist route & key North Sutherland vehicle access.
•North Coast 500 Green Tourism Project
Members also agreed, to make a second stand-alone bid under the Heritage and Culture strand for Portree Harbour and Village regeneration. The harbour area in Portree is an important cultural and heritage asset for the Isle of Skye and acts as an important gateway to the island.
This project aligns with the Skye and Raasay Future (SARF) ambitions and offers the potential to transform Portree harbour and waterfront area, supporting the local economy and delivering a quality infrastructure and environment which will deliver key benefits for the area.
The key elements of the bid include:-
•harbour upgrade;
•new access arrangements
•new berthing and mooring options
•new quayside facilities
•relocation of fuel tanks
There will be two further rounds of the UK Levelling Up Funds and it is hoped to resubmit the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency bid, similarly Ross, Skye and Lochaber Constituency in Round 3. Local Members will be fully involved in the process, and it is anticipated that Round 3 will be open for submission around summer 2023.
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.
