More consumers in Highland will now have a way to find out how well local food caterers and retailers are performing thanks to the complete roll-out of the Food Hygiene Information Scheme across the area. The Highland Council is one of the 32 Scottish local authorities taking part in the Scheme.
The Highland Council is to create three new Area Committees to complement the two already operating successfully in Inverness and Caithness & Sutherland. The committees will cover Skye and Ross & Cromarty (23 members), Nairn and Badenoch & Strathspey (8 members) and Lochaber (7 members).
Peak time restrictions are being lifted on the Kessock Bridge on Saturday 29th June, reopening all lanes to traffic during the day, as the first phase of the £13.2 million upgrade draws to a close. Balfour Beatty will continue work on the bridge during off peak hours and at night.
An extra £1 million is to be spent on roads maintenance in the Highlands in this financial year. The one-off injection has been allocated by the Council from its new £5 million Strategic Change and Development Fund to help improve the condition of the Council’s 4,217 mile regional roads network.
The future of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters (PFOW) will be guided by the outcome of a joint consultation launched by Marine Scotland, Orkney Islands Council, The Highland Council and Heriot-Watt University. Two documents have been produced to support the development of a pilot Marine Spatial Plan that aims to balance the needs of all existing and future users of the PFOW.
An initiative to dramatically reduce carbon emissions in Inverness and the Highlands by 2025 is being proposed by The Highland Council’s Leadership. A report to be considered by the Council at its meeting on Thursday (27 June) asks the Council to sign up to a long term commitment to create a Carbon Neutral Inverness in a Low Carbon Highlands; branded as a Carbon CLEVER Highlands by 2025.
The Highland Council has appointed a new Chief Executive. He is Steve Barron, the Council’s Depute Chief Executive and Director of Housing and Property.
Council’s new 10-year building programme will boost Highland construction industry. The Leadership of The Highland Council today (Thursday) unveiled ambitious and exciting long term plans that will boost the Highland economy, with spending of almost one billion pounds over the next 10 years.
The Highland Council is advising the public that the second and final phase of ground condition investigations are under way in relation to the Inverness West Link road. Holequest Ltd, who carried out the bulk of the ground Investigation works for the first phase of the investigations, have returned for the second phase and this involves boreholes being installed in the River Ness at the proposed bridge pier locations.
Local shops and businesses across Highland are being encouraged to take advantage of a new retailing opportunity – bagged wood pellets for domestic biomass heating systems. The Highland Council is hosting an event in Inverness on Thursday 20 June to encourage an increase in the supply of domestic biomass fuel across the area.
The Highland Council’s Leader Councillor Drew Hendry says the Highlands is bucking the trend of declining house building in Scotland, with a very encouraging delivery of new homes throughout the region. Councillor Hendry was speaking in the wake of reports that the building of new homes in Scotland has hit a 65-year low caused by the recession in the construction industry over the past few years.
The Highland Council is sponsoring the Community Land Scotland Conference to be held at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Sleat, Skye, on Friday and Saturday (7 and 8 June). The keynote conference address will be delivered by the First Minister Alex Salmond, MSP.
The introduction of the “bedroom tax” has resulted in an increase in arrears and the level of debt of tenants affected. Members of The Highland Council’s Finance Housing and Resources Committee were told that the number of tenants affected by the “bedroom tax” and in arrears had risen from 724 before it was introduced on 1 April to 1,144 on 18 May and the total of arrears had risen from £173,491 to £197,795 in the same period.
Highland Councillors are leading the way in Scotland in introducing a scheme which will help reverse the decline in apprenticeships. Members of the Finance Housing and Resources Committee have agreed to contribute £30,000 towards the establishment of a new company which will create a pool of construction apprentices, who will work with multiple contractors over the duration of their apprenticeships.
Highland Council has welcomed a successful start to the 2013 cruise ship programme at Scrabster, following the visit on Friday 24th May 2013 of the Adonia, carrying nearly 700 passengers and over 350 crew. Councillor Roger Saxon said “We were delighted to see so many visitors enjoying the sunshine, and either visiting local attractions such as the Castle of Mey or taking advantage of the free shuttle buses between Scrabster and Thurso town centre.
The Highland Council’s Caithness and Sutherland Area Committee has approved the structural maintenance programmes for roads and bridges in the area for the coming year. The budgets allocated to Caithness and Sutherland for structural road and bridge maintenance totalled £2.44 million.
A further step was taken yesterday towards a new Caithness and Sutherland Local Development Plan – CaS Plan - following a decision made at the Area Committee to issue a Call for Sites over the summer, urging communities to identify land for future development and areas they want to see protected. The Committee members were also looking at ways of taking forward the outcomes from the Wick and Thurso Charrettes, which will help shape the CaS Plan.
Councillor Deirdre Mackay, Leader of the Caithness and Sutherland Area committee has welcomed a presentation to the committee yesterday (Monday 20 May) which clearly laid out how the various agencies in Caithness and Sutherland are working together to offset the results of Dounreay decommissioning and ensure that clear pathways are in place to prepare our young people for the future needs and demands of industry and business across all sectors. Reports from North Highland College, Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership, Caithness Chamber of Commerce and Skills Development Scotland were brought together for the first time outlining the work that is currently underway to ensure young people reach positive destinations when leaving school, college and university.
Work has been completed on clean ups and repairs at 21 locations throughout the Highlands that were affected by the 14/15 December storm in 2012. Members of The Highland Council’s Transport, Environmental and Community (TEC) Services Committee were updated yesterday on works completed and works still in progress at Portmahomack and Balintore Harbours.
A zero tolerance approach to littering in the Highlands has received cross party support from members of The Highland Council’s Transport, Environmental and Community (TEC) Services Committee. A number of measures to adopt zero tolerance including extending the powers of Community Wardens to issue fines were overwhelmingly approved by members including: · zero tolerance on littering will be carried out with a degree of discretion; · additional staff will be authorised to enforce the law relating to litter and fly-tipping; · Waste Management and Environmental Health staff carry out joint enforcement days; · the preparation and publication of a calendar of enforcement days on the Council’s website www.highland.gov.uk; and · the Council encourages and supports local communities to organise events aimed at keeping their communities free of litter and improving the overall environment.