Highland Council agrees 5-year Capital Programme
8th March 2018
The Highland Council has agreed a capital programme of £482m over the next 5 years.
The Highland Council serves the largest geographical area in Scotland (over 30%) and has just under £2bn of assets on its balance sheet comprising, amongst other things, 203 operational schools, over 6,700km of roads and over 2,000 properties.
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 over the coming years.
"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.
"All these projects are vital to the economy of the Highlands. Of course we all want to do more. We have to watch every opportunity and work with everyone to get all the support that we can. We also need to listen to our communities to hear what ideas they have and to work with us to direct their support to our campaign for better funding for our roads and our schools. We have a hard task ahead and we need to work together."
Budget Leader of the Highland Council, Cllr Alister MacKinnon said:
“It was good to see the consensus across the chamber today. We all want the best for our communities. We intend to push hard for more capital funding for our schools and infrastructure and we will ensure that we deliver the very best value for what we spend. We are determined to ensure that the Highlands has the investment it needs and deserves and that we are not disadvantaged by our geography."
The Highland Council's Capital Programme 2018/19 to 2022/23 can be found at: https://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/73257/item_3_capital_programme_201819_to_202223
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