Caithness Committee focuses on local priorities

1st September 2016

Members of the Caithness Committee have agreed a set of strategic Council priorities for the area and confirmed their commitment to working in partnership with others to improve the health and well-being of local people.

In the document, "A Vision for Caithness, Land of the Norse Yarls", the priorities are listed under a number of headings which include Infrastructure for Growth, Area Promotion, Health and Wellbeing, Transport, Education and Social Equality. There is also a priority to ensure Wick and Thurso town centres are attractive, active and accessible and a town centre Wi-Fi project is delivered. Councillor Bill Fernie in his intervention in the debate asked that villages in Caithness were included in the aims to get free WIFI. He said, "more and more people expect WIFI to be available and it would be of great assistance to both locals and visitors."

At todays (Wednesday 31 August) Committee, members had the chance to discussed the list of proposed priorities for their own wards, and those common throughout Caithness.

Chair of the Committee, Councillor Roger Saxon said: "Building on the localism agenda and the increased delegation of decision-making to local communities has given us the perfect opportunity as councillors to consider local priorities.

“The list of strategic Council priorities we now have reflects the wide geographical diversity of our area and,sets out our ambitions to make Caithness a great place to live, work and visit and will help us focus our future work.

“Although these are council priorities, and local members will be concentrating on addressing them, through the development of our new local Community Planning Partnership, in the near future we will also be able to look in detail at wider shared priorities to bring more benefits to the people of Caithness."

The Depute Leader of The Highland Council, Councillor Alasdair Rhind joined the committee to discuss their key priorities and look at ways the Council can help progress work on addressing them.

He said: “The Council has existing Highland-wide priorities but the local Members have done a great job in agreeing priorities for their own Wards. Coming here today has given me a much clearer understanding of the specific issues affecting people in Caithness and the work needed to address these. Having a clear vision with priorities is a great way forward and will help the wider Council when it comes to looking at ways we can support the work of the local committee.”