Only One Highland Area Committee Has Been Cancelled In November - Caithness
8th November 2022
Highlighted by former councillor Nicola Sinclair now a reporter in her article in the web site for the Groat and Courier is the fact there are no decisions required by the Caithness Area committee.
It may be a surprise that councillors could not come up with some topics for discussion rather than rely only on officials to make up the agenda with nothing on it so cancelling the meeting.
With Highland council budget in deep trouble and with serious affects for services in Caithness perhaps sometime coming up with ideas on that front could fill a few minutes. The Scottish government has announced one Billion pounds of cuts much of which will affect councils on way or another.
The cost of living this year and is devastating for many families with possible much worse coming next year.
Although many decisions are taken in other committees perhaps the local area committee could have taken a look.
It would not take long to find issues needing debate and perhaps preparing for the recession that is already upon us and due to get worse with more interest rate rises on the horizon.
Rising rent arrears for tenants would be worthy of discussion locally even if it is decided on another committee of the highland council.
Nicola Sinclair's article says "Highland Council has 11 area committees, set up in a bid to devolve power from Inverness to local communities." But leaving it to "Other Committees" does not seem to suggest much power has been devolved so far.
Read the article HERE
Related Businesses
Related Articles
Yesterday, Thursday 16 May, representatives from the tourism sector in the Highlands gathered in Inverness to take part in a Sustainable Tourism Strategy Workshop hosted by The Highland Council. The meeting, which was well attended with representatives from across Highland and different interests, follows the launch of the Council's public consultation on its Draft Sustainable Tourism Strategy.
First Minister John Swinney has confirmed the opening of a £1.5 million fund to support councils in removing the impact of school meal debt from families across the country. Mr Swinney said this commitment will help ensure no child is penalised for struggling to pay for school meals as a result of the cost of living crisis.
Todays Audit Scotland report Local government budgets 2024/25 reveals how dire council budgets are. This makes many more cuts in services likely in coming years.
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.