Two Highland Council roads and 12 schools remain closed or affected today (Monday 12 January) following the severe weather. Newhall Bridge B9163 on the Black Isle is closed until further notice, due to structural damage.
DUE to storm damage, two schools, may not be open on Monday. Brora Primary School and Canisbay Primary School have both suffered some roof damage.
Multi-agency partners are continuing to monitor and respond to incidents regarding the severe weather which has affected the Highlands and Islands since Thursday evening. Conditions have improved a little over most of the area.
Strategic and local multi-agency tactical meetings are continuing to take place to assess and manage the impact of the severe weather. The storm force winds and snow have caused considerable disruption and severely hampered repairs to power networks and clearing of roads across the area.
Highland Council school closure report - update. The following schools are closed until further notice in The Highland Council area.
THE Highland Council has been working with partners in other agencies to plan for the impact of the severe storms overnight and throughout today. Senior staff have been taking part in regional and local multi-agency meetings to ensure appropriate arrangements are in place and staff across the council have been working extremely hard to deal with the impacts of the weather and provide service continuity.
Following reports of an amber weather alert (be prepared) for the Highlands, the Western Isles and Orkney along with a yellow weather alert (be aware) for Shetland, the Highlands and Islands Local Resilience Partnership (HILRP), is seeking to remind the public to be vigilant of severe gales and storm force winds, with gusts in excess of 100mph which are expected to occur from 22:00 hours on Thursday 08 January 2015 until 10:00 hours on Friday (09 January 2015). The winds are predicted to be strong enough to cause interference to the transport network along with wave and spray overtopping in exposed coastal areas throughout North West Scotland, the Western Isles and into Orkney and along the west coast.
Cleaning staff responsible for looking after The Highland Council's Care and Learning services' toilets are been praised after scooping 7 national category awards, and 2 major national awards in the annual Loo of the Year Awards. With 20 facilities receiving platinum certificates and a further 23 gold, the Council has also been awarded a Champions League Standards of Excellence Certificate.
Communities are being reminded that the consultation on the Caithness and Sutherland Local Development Plan (CaSPlan) Main Issues Report continues, with any comments needing to be received by The Highland Council no later than 12 noon on Thursday 29 January 2015. A number of consultation events have already been held across Caithness and Sutherland, where people have been able to speak to planners about development options in their settlements and the important issues relevant to their communities.
Highland Council welcomes the New Year's Honour that has been awarded to a long serving former manager. Harriet Dempster has received an OBE for services to child welfare.
The Highland Council is pleased to announce that 'financial close' of the Wick Campus project was achieved, Friday 19 December 2014. With financial close, the Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DBFM) contract has now been signed off for the £48.5m project which is due to complete in September 2016.
The budget for 2015/16 and the indicative budget for the following 3 years has been agreed following a meeting today of Highland Council. A package of savings totally £42.8 million was agreed.
Today (Monday 15 December 2014) marks the introduction of revised planning permitted development rights for agricultural and forestry tracks. All proposed new, or alterations to existing, roads, tracks or footpaths (known collectively as ‘private ways') on agricultural or forestry land must now go through a prior notification process with the Planning Authority before any development can commence.
‘Out with the old, in with the new' is an expression frequently heard over the Festive Season and this year The Highland Council's Waste Awareness Team are urging us all to make sure we don't just throw away the old but remember to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible. Remember to use your blue bin for all paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, food tins and drink cans (no glass or plastic bags - everything should be loose, dry and clean).
People in Thurso are being advised by The Highland Council that the recycling banks at Thurso Lidl have been removed until February 2015 due to lack of space in the car park during the store's renovations. At this time of year householders have a lot of extra recycling, including glass in particular, and the Council is urging them to use other banks in the town.
Part-time distance learning primary teaching course. Building on an existing successful partnership between The Highland Council and the University of Aberdeen, the next Distance Learning Initial Teacher Education Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (DLITE PGDE) (Primary) begins on 7 February 2015.
With staff due to move into the new council offices in Wick in March next year, one of the items on the Area Committee today was to agree a name for the building which will house 140 members of staff. Local Councillors, keen to have a new name to encompass both the refurbished original listed building at Market Place and to reflect the new works to incorporate the adjoining building at Stafford Place put forward the suggestion of Caithness House which was unanimously agreed by the Committee.
The work of Highland Council's Countryside Rangers was welcomed at the Caithness and Sutherland Area Committee as Members gave their support for the wide range of work done by the Rangers and also gave their approval for the 2015/16 programme of events across the area. Highland Council's Countryside Manager George Duff informed members of the achievements made by the Rangers in the last financial year for 2013/14 and highlighted some local events they had been involved in: · In Caithness and Sutherland 162 events took place which were attended by 1865 people with 98% of participants saying it met their expectations and 59% saying it exceeded expectations.
No bags in Blue Bins recycling message. Clean, dry and loose, that's the simple message that The Highland Council is delivering to householders where it has been experiencing contamination issues with the blue recycling bins.
Proposal to end collections on February 1. A proposal to end the collection of Poll Tax debts from February 1 next year is contained within the Community Charge Debt (Scotland) Bill, which is published today.