Highland Council Advice Service Wins Top Scottish Award
24th May 2010
A value added service offered by The Highland Council in partnership with a number of other national agencies including Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Transport Scotland has received national recognition at the Homes for Scotland Awards 2010.
The Pre-Application Advice Service for Major Developments, a cross Council service led by the Planning and Development Service, received an award in the Key Agency Working category. Organisers of the Awards said that the aim was to demonstrate the further evolution of the development industry's commitment to improvement across the board, and to send out a message that the industry is determined to embrace the many challenges which lie ahead in overcoming the difficulties of the past two years. The Highland Council were the only Scottish Local Authority to be short listed.
The Pre-Application Advice Service helps to make the planning process more efficient by encouraging early and effective consultation which will assist in avoiding some of the difficult situations that may arise during the application process. The service offers advice on a range of issues including transport arrangements, design, sustainability and community engagement.
Central to the provision of the Pre-Application Advice Service is the partnership approach and commitment which helps the Council and its partners to deliver pre-application advice in a consistant and transparent manner to all developers helping to demonstrate the Council's commitment to facilitating growth in the local economy.
The Council was presented with their award at the Homes for Scotland Annual Lunch, held in Edinburgh on Friday 21st May 2010.
Councillor Ian Ross, Chairman of The Highland Council's Planning Environment and Development Committee, added: "We are delighted to have received this prestigious award which reflects the strong and constructive working relationship between the council and its partners since the inception of this service in February 2009. The Pre-Application Advice Service offers a great opportunity for the Council and the development industry to work closely together to help deliver better quality new developments and stengthen our communities."
Related Businesses
Related Articles
Young people in the Highlands can call a dedicated helpline offering expert advice to anyone receiving their full Higher, National, and Advanced results on Tuesday, 5 August 2025. The pupils and students- along with their parents and carers - will be able to get support with their results through Skills Development Scotland's (SDS) Results Helpline, which opens from 8am on results day.
Wick Business Park has welcomed wind energy technology company ENERCON as the first occupant of one of four new units completed last year. ENERCON specialises in designing, producing, installing and servicing onshore wind turbines and has been operating in the Caithness area since 2013.
Additional empty homes officers are being recruited to bring more privately owned houses back into use. The new posts are being supported as part of a £2 million investment through the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership in 2025-26 which will see staff take a more proactive and targeted approach to tackling local housing issues.
The Highland Strategic Local Action Group (LAG) met in June 2025 and considered and agreed funding for 28 projects submitted to the Community-Led Local Development fund (CLLD), which makes up part of The Highland Council Community Regeneration Fund (CRF) programme. CRF is an umbrella term used to cover multiple external funding programmes administered by The Highland Council.
Highland Council has provided 12 ‘Talking Tub' resources for use in primary schools across the Highlands, in partnership with Union Technical who deliver community benefits as part of the Energy Efficient Scotland: Area Based Scheme programme. Chair of Highland Council's Education Committee, Councillor John Finlayson, said: "This is a fantastic initiative being rolled out across Highland primary schools which brings innovation and inspiration to early years children.
Visitors will find it easier to dispose of their litter at several popular spots across Highland after the rollout of additional bins. The rollout has been planned to support the tourism season as part of the Council's ongoing commitment to improve and support sustainable tourism in the area.
Members of the meeting of The Highland Council (26 June 2025) have considered and agreed the Accounts Commission's Best Value report, which was published in April 2025 and highlights organisational improvements across leadership, performance management and community engagement. In April’s report, the Accounts Commission recognised and welcomed significant progress within the organisation since the 2020 Best Value Assurance Report (BVAR) and commended the embedded culture of transformation.
A new generation of community facilities is being planned for the Highlands. At a meeting of The Highland Council (Thursday 26 June), elected members approved the work to date in progressing the Highland Investment Plan workstreams - masterplan for Thurso and agreed to nominate the current Thurso High School site as the preferred location for the new Thurso Community Point of Delivery (POD).
At a meeting of The Highland Council (Thursday 26 June 2025), Members received a progress report on the partnership approach and important successes since declaring a Highland Housing Challenge in November 2023. Since establishing the ambitious Highland Housing Challenge, important successes included: A call for sites delivered 250 sites, with a potential 25,000 housing units which will support delivery against the target of an additional 12,000 houses over the next 10 years.
The Highland Council will deliver a transformative programme of energy efficiency upgrades across Council housing supported by a £9.2 million Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding proposal secured by Union Technical. The funding proposal will deliver approximately 1,000 individual energy efficiency measures to Council owned properties across the Highlands.