Energy & business services: I met this week with RES Offshore, who are working on the Dounreay Tri project, which is seeking consent to build a floating offshore wind demonstrator at a site north of Dounreay. Myself and Alan Ogg of North Highland College met with Senior Developer Jack Farnham to discuss the potential for jobs associated with the operation & maintenance of the project.
Customers across Aberdeenshire, Moray and the Highlands can now benefit from the convenience of using the Stagecoach Bus app to instantly buy and download day tickets to their smartphone. Payments via the app can be made by PayPal, or via debit or credit card.
Members of The Highland Council will be asked to approve a proposed scheme to make workforce reductions at the Council meeting on 15 December. The Employee Early Release Scheme (EERS) is designed to make reductions in the council workforce in a way that is affordable and in line with the reductions in funding available for the 2017/18 budget.
The Highland Licensing Committee is recommending a number of changes to existing taxi fares following an annual review. The proposed changes, which would take effect from end March next year, are: • Increase Tariff 1 running mileage from £1.40 to £1.50 per mile; •Increase waiting time from the current £18.00 per hour to £25 per hour.
New law which makes it illegal to smoke in a vehicle carrying anyone under 18 came into force on Monday 5 December. The legislation was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament last year.
Introducing 'THE OLD SALT STORE' at Heat Centre, Burn Street, WICK, the new in-store shop stocking Cookware, Dinnerware, Bakeware and Drinkware including Le Creuset and Denby. Opening hours Monday to Friday - 0900 hours to 1700 hours Saturday - 1000 hours to 1600 hours.
Views sought on extending FOI legislation to Registered Social Landlords. The Scottish Government is launching a consultation on proposals to extend FOI legislation to Registered Social Landlords.
The Highland Council has been notified by hub North Scotland Limited that the expected handover date for the Wick Campus facility is now Thursday 8 December 2016, slipped from Friday 2 December as previously notified to stakeholders. The Council is deeply disappointed by this further delay, and has escalated concerns with hub North Scotland Limited and Morrison Construction Limited to understand reasons for the delay, and seek assurances on the revised handover date.
The level of income required to afford a socially acceptable standard of living and to participate in society is ten to thirty per cent more expensive in remote rural Scotland than elsewhere in the UK. The report on Minimum Income Standard for Remote Rural Scotland 2016, published today (Wednesday 30 November), was commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Scottish Enterprise (SE), the Rural and Islands Housing Association Forum (RIHAF) and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA).
More than 30,000 bricks have been removed from three pits within a redundant facility as part of a project to decommission a former effluent treatment plant. A scaffold platform has been constructed to allow operators, wearing full airline suits, access to remove the bricks using small electrically operated hand tools.
With the onset of winter, householders are reminded that The Highland Council garden waste collections will cease for a period of 3 months from the beginning of December. There will be no brown bin collections in December 2016, January or February 2017.
FORT WILLIAM, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (November, 25th) sold 925 store sheep of all classes. Lambs (567) sold to £75.50 gross for a pen of Suffolk crosses from East Croft Roy, Newtonmore.
Week commencing 21 November 2016 Energy & business services: Representatives of the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd were in Wick yesterday (Thursday 24th) to give a public update on progress with the project, and perhaps more specifically with plans to use Wick harbour as the Operations & Maintenance base for the project. The event was very busy, and it was great to be able to talk to key personnel involved in the project.
The initial findings of a review into the delivery of educational capital projects have identified a number of recent improvements and recommendations are being developed for future arrangements. The review commenced in October at the request of the Council Leader following a number of issues with programming and quality in capital projects for new schools.
Family budgets to be further squeezed following Autumn Statement. As the impact of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement is examined by think-tanks and independent analysts, it is clear that the UK’s weak economic outlook and the UK Government’s austerity policies will hit low income family incomes hardest, Finance Minister Derek Mackay said.
Leader of The Highland Council, Cllr Margaret Davidson is seeking clarification from Depute First Minister John Swinney about reports claiming that the Board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise is to be scrapped and replaced with a centralised committee. Councillor Davidson said: "If it is correct - it is totally unacceptable that the Scottish Government is to centralise the decision-making powers of Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
The chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has said he is fully confident about the future of the organisation. Responding to reports this week, speculating about the agencies future following the Scottish Government's review of enterprise and skills bodies, Professor Lorne Crerar, said he had had absolute reassurance from Scottish Government that HIE will continue in its present form.
An audit report to Audit and Scrutiny Committee today, 24 November 2016, has made recommendations to improve the collection of rental income. Audit findings estimated that up to £10,000 rental income could potentially have been lost, however this is against a context of total rental income in excess of £3 million per annum.
The prospect of industrial unrest at the Dounreay nuclear decommissioning site in Caithness is growing after DSRL, the company which employs most of the staff on site (2), indicated it was not prepared to increase its 1% pay offer to staff. This was despite a ballot, which attracted a high turnout, indicating an overwhelming rejection by union members.
