The Highland Council is inviting tenders for the provision of public bus services and home to school transport services across the whole of the Council area, with a potential value of up to £80 million over the 5 year life of the contracts. The Council are looking to encourage as many suppliers as possible to take advantage of this opportunity which gives local suppliers the chance to bid for services in their community.
Two Awards in One Day - National Recognition of Highland Council's Pre-Application Advice Service The Pre-Application Advice Service for Major Developments, a cross Highland Council and other public agency project led by the Planning and Development Service, received a commendation in the Development Management category at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning and a Silver Award in the Service Innovation and Improvement category at the COSLA Awards on March 11th 2011. The Service helps to make the planning process more efficient by encouraging early and effective discussion with developers to better inform their subsequent planning applications.
Seven candidates will contest the forthcoming by-election to elect one councillor to serve The Highland Council's Ward 3 - Wick. The candidates are: Laurel Bush, Animaland, 16 Kennedy Terrace, Wick.
This year a new search function will be launched on the Council's website which allows householders with access to the internet to find their 2011 e-recycling collection calendar. The Highland Council's Waste Management Unit will not be delivering kerbside recycling collection calendars in 2011, unless they are making changes to a service.
The Highland Council's Housing and Social Work Committee has agreed in principle to build a new five-bed children's residential home in Wick at an estimated cost of £1.2 million. Investigations are under way to identify a suitable site for the home, close to school and amenites, and secure the necessary permissions, subject to further decisions by the Council over funding.
The Highland Council has learned lessons from the Caithness Heat and Power Project in Wick, and introduced measures to ensure the corporate failings are not repeated in any future project. A total of 39 actions have been put in place in a response to an internal audit of the Wick-based enterprise and these actions have been acknowledged by external audit and the Accounts Commission.
Highland Council to create arms length organisation for Community Learning and Leisure Members of The Highland Council's Education, Culture and Sport (ECS) Committee have agreed to a major transfer of the management and delivery of Community Learning and Leisure Services to an arms length organisation (ALO). The transfer which will take place in the financial year 2011/12 will save the Council £1 million per year through an ALO.
Business as usual for voluntary sector with The Highland Council's Education, Culture and Sport Service Service delivery contracts between the voluntary sector and the Highland Council's Education, Culture and Sport Service will remain under the management of the Council when its Community Learning and Leisure (CLL) Service transfer to an arms length organisation (ALO). Members of the Council's ECS Committee have agreed to transfer its CLL Services to an ALO in the financial year 2011/12.
The Highland Council has agreed changes to the way communities will benefit from renewable energy developments. For onshore developments, the Council is adopting a three-tier approach to community benefit.
A new scheme governing the running of Community Councils in the Highlands takes effect from 1 April 2011. It brings together eight separate schemes into one Highland-wide scheme.
A special meeting of The Highland Council is being held on Thursday 10 March 2011 at the Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness IV3 5NX to consider the findings of the Accounts Commission in respect of the Caithness Heat and Power project in Wick. The meeting is public and will start at 2 pm or following a meeting of the Education Culture and Sport Committee, whichever is the later.
The Highland Council's pilot webcasting scheme is to be extended so that council and strategic committee meetings held at Council headquarters in Inverness can be viewed by the public from their computers. At present, the Council webcasts meetings held in the Council Chamber of the Planning Environmental and Development Committee as well as the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Planning Applications Committee and the Highland Licensing Committee.
A by-election will be held in The Highland Council's Ward 3 - Wick - on Thursday 7 April to choose a successor to Councillor Katrina MacNab (Independent), who resigns from the Council with effect from Friday (4 March). Nomination papers will be available from 10 am on Monday 7 March.
Highland Council failed to establish effective governance arrangements for innovative heat and power project The Accounts Commission has considered a report on The Highland Council's Caithness Heat and Power (CHaP) project, which was run by an arms-length community enterprise. In its findings the Commission says the lack of appropriate risk management and effective governance arrangements for the project was a corporate failure by the council.
The Highland Council has put in place new governance arrangements to prevent a recurrence of the deficiencies experienced in the early operating years of Caithness Heat and Power, the community-owned enterprise formed to deliver a biomass district heating system in Wick. The Accounts Commission has ruled that the lack of appropriate risk management and effective governance arrangements for the project was a corporate failure by the council.
Preparations for the introduction of the new refuse and recycling collections to households in Caithness and Lochaber step up a gear this week as The Highland Council begin the distribution of new calendars and booklets giving full details of the new service. Households in areas which presently have blue recycling boxes will also begin to be issued with blue wheelie bins; these will take a wider range of materials than the boxes - paper, food tins and drink cans, cardboard and plastic bottles.
www.highland.gov.uk/greendogwalkers Dog fouling has long been an issue in all parts of the Highland Council area and now responsible dog owners are banding together to stop it with the launch of the Green Dog Walkers scheme. Green Dog Walkers is a non confrontational friendly way of changing people's attitudes towards dog fouling in public places and encourages responsible dog ownership.
Enhancing benefits from renewable energy developments A working group set up by The Highland Council to identify the most effective way of maximising benefits to communities from renewable energy developments is recommending changes that could not only increase the level of pay outs by developers but see the benefits more widely spread throughout the Highlands. In reporting back to the full council after five meetings, the Community Benefit Working Group says the guiding principle should remain that local communities accommodating developments should continue to benefit most.
Evaluation report on Caithness Mod confirms event's economic boost to the area. A survey of people visiting the Mod in Caithness 2010 has shown that over £2million was generated in direct expenditure and an additional £1million generated indirect expenditure for the area.
Appointment of two senior officers to lead Highland integration of health and social care The Highland Council and NHS Highland have appointed two senior officers to lead the planning for the integration of health and social care. Jan Baird, the Director of Community Care for NHS Highland, will become the Transitions Director, leading a team of seconded staff from the Council and NHS Highland to develop and take forward the integration plan.