Council Administration to present a programme of investment

7th March 2018

Speaking ahead of today's Council meeting to agree the Council's Capital Programme for 2018/19 to 2022/23, Cllr Margaret Davidson, Leader of the Highland Council said:-

"This programme delivers significant investment in a range of key projects across the Highlands. We are investing in schools, roads, bridges, harbours and flood prevention schemes that will benefit our communities.

"We recognise the need to invest in our infrastructure and we want to do more. Our capital programme has been significantly reduced due to the financial constraints imposed on us by the Scottish Government, but we intend to campaign hard for more capital funding for the Highlands and I am today calling on all our Councillors, MSPs and MPs to publically support us."

Cllr Alasdair Christie, Depute Leader of the Highland Council said:- “Today we are launching a major campaign to make a strong case to the Scottish Government for additional capital funding and we would encourage our communities to join with us to lobby the Government for the funding that the Highlands needs and deserves."

Cllr Jimmy Gray, Labour Group Leader said:- “We recognise that we need additional funding for our schools and roads and so we will be making strong and ambitious bids to the Schools for the Future Programme for new schools. We are determined to ensure that Highlands is not disadvantaged by its geography and that we have the infrastructure we need to grow our economy.”

Cllr Alister MacKinnon, Budget Leader for the Highland Council added:-

“We will do everything we can to address the capacity and condition of Highland’s primary and secondary schools. We intend to rigorously review alternative methods of construction and adopt new build techniques to ensure that we are delivering the very best value for what we spend.

“We will work with other Councils across the UK to learn from their experience and how they have successfully exploited these new methods. This is not about delivering inferior facilities, but about ensuring we use the latest techniques to deliver value for money.”

 

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