The target date for the partial re-opening of the A 890 Stromeferry By-pass between Lochcarron and Kyle/Plockton has had to be delayed until Monday 27 February as the result of more extensive works being identified by the specialist contractors employed by The Highland Council to make safe the rockface and reopen the road. At a public meeting at Achmore, near Plockton, last night, TRAC Engineering Ltd set out the challenges they are facing as they work round the clock to stabilise the rockface, clear rock, soil and vegetation from the hillside and install safety netting at a point 100 yards west of the Avalanche Shelter.
People in Caithness are invited to find out more about, and have an opportunity to have their say on the development of Planning for Integration of health, education and social care services provided by NHS Highland and The Highland Council. At a public meeting in, Wick (Mackays Hotel) on 23 February from 7pm - 9pm, Jan Baird, Planning for Integration, Transitions Director will explain how, from 1 April 2012, staff are being brought together into integrated teams to work with children and families and with people who use community care services.
The Highland Council's Education, Culture and Sport Cleaning Service have received a Performance Network Award for the Most Improved Performer in the Association of Public Services 2011 Excellence Awards. The ECS cleaning service, which employs 850 people, provides a daily building cleaning service to 367 of the Council's establishments including nurseries, schools, offices, libraries, community centres and museums.
The Highland Council has confirmed the appointment of the two directors who will lead the integration of services for children across the authority from April. Bill Alexander, Director of Social Work, has been appointed as the Director of Health and Social Care and Hugh Fraser, Director of Education Culture and Sport, has been appointed to a position with the same title with extended responsibilities.
At a special meeting today (Thursday 9th February 2012), The Highland Council agreed to freeze the Council Tax for a fifth successive year and has confirmed a revenue budget of £602 million for 2012-13. The tax for 2012-13 is: Band A: £775.33; Band B: £904.56; C: £1,033.78; Band D: £1,163; Band E: £1,421.44; Band F: £1,679.89; Band G: £1,938.33; Band H: £2,326.
People in the Highlands are invited to find out more about, and have an opportunity to have their say on the development of Planning for Integration of health, education and social care services in the area provided by NHS Highland and The Highland Council. At eight public meetings in February and March, Jan Baird, Planning for Integration, Transitions Director will explain how, from 1 April 2012, staff are being brought together into integrated teams to work with children and families and with people who use community care services.
The Highland Council will be asked to agree an additional £2m for road repairs when it meets next Thursday (9 February 2012). Councillor John Laing, the Chair of TECS Services, said that the extra funding, recommended by the Administration for 2012-13, would be used to address the additional damage to the road network following successive winters when we experienced prolonged periods of very low temperatures, which resulted in damage to roads throughout Scotland.
The Highland Council is being recommended to freeze the Council Tax for a fifth successive year and confirm a budget of £602 million for 2012-13 when it meets on Thursday 9 February 2012. Through its three-year budget setting process, the Council has already identified savings of £18.6 million for 2012-13.
The Highland Council will be asked next week at its budget setting meeting to inject an additional £650,000 into classroom support in primary schools. The recommendation to the full council on Thursday 9 February comes from a Cross-Party Working Group, which has been reviewing the role of classroom assistants in primary schools over the past year.
The north end of Dunnet Beach in Caithness now looks much tidier following a recent public beach clean (on Sunday 29 January 2012) organised by The Highland Council Countryside Rangers. In total throughout the day about fifty people volunteered their time to help pick the litter from the beach which had gathered in great quantities during the winter storms.
Help is at hand for Caithness businesses to supply The Highland Council. A free event aimed at helping businesses to supply The Highland Council will take place on Thursday 9 February 2012 in Thurso.
There will be a contest in five of the six constituencies within the Crofting Commission electoral area. A total of 28 candidates will contest the five constituencies of: · Shetland; · East Highlands (East Sutherland, Easter Ross, East Inverness and Moray); · Western Isles; · West Highlands (West Sutherland, Wester Ross, Skye and Lochalsh); and · South West Highlands (Lochaber, Argyll and Bute, Arran and Cumbrae, Small Isles).
The Highland Council has selected TRAC Engineering Ltd to carry out stabilisation works on the A 890 Stromeferry Bypass which takes traffic between Wester Ross and Lochalsh/Skye and has been closed due to the danger of rockfall since 22 December, last year. Following a rockfall, emergency works were undertaken which did not leave a stable rock slope but which did protect the rail line.
With the Wick, Pulteneytown Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) drawing to an end, The Highland Council's Planning , Environment and Development Committee has awarded two grants and agreed to submit a third to Historic Scotland for approval, worth a total of £486,585. The Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS), funded by Historic Scotland and the Highland Council, was launched in 2007 to regenerate the Pulteneytown Conservation Area in Wick through the reuse and repair of its historic buildings.
Harvesting starts as part of Storr native woodland restoration. Tree felling and harvesting has begun at Storr Woodland, north of Portree on the island of Skye.
The Highland Council are pleased to announce further details of a design charrette to be held for the Sandown site in Nairn from Monday 30 January to Thursday 2 February 2012. The charrette, which will be facilitated by architects - Ironside Farrar - will take the form of an interactive design workshop which will allow the community, local authority and a wide range of stakeholders to come together to discuss and agree design ideas which will be translated into drawings to develop a masterplan for the site.
The centre of Wick will see regeneration come to life when work on the new council office begins later this year. Most of the existing council offices at Market Square will be demolished to make way for a modern building whilst retaining Stafford Place - the curved building that is part of High Street.
The introduction on Monday 23 January of an early morning train service between Inverness and Kyle, arriving in Kyle at 8.40 am, has resulted in changes to the timetable of the passenger ferry service which has been introduced between North and South Strome to combat the closure of the A 890 Stromeferry Bypass. Monday - Friday, the 60-passenger Sula Mhor from Plockton will make two return journeys in the morning, leaving South Strome at 8.00 am and 9.20 am, and North Strome at 8.15 am and 9.30 am.
As a matter of urgency, Highland Council roads officials have been asked to bring forward options for a long term solution that provides a secure transport link between Wester Ross and Lochalsh. The move came at the Council's Transport Environmental and Community Services Committee today (Thursday) as the result of the closure of the A 890 Stromeferry Bypass - which takes traffic from Lochcarron to Kyle/Plockton and on to Skye - due to landslides and the continuing danger of rock fall.
Eligible candidates are reminded that the deadline for returning nomination papers to seek election to the new Crofting Commission is 4 pm on Thursday 26 January. Six people will be elected by Scotland's crofting community to represent their interests on the Crofting Commission, which will come into effect on 1 April 2012 when it will replace the current Crofters Commission.