Today, Friday 31st July 2015, The Duke of Rothesay took a tour of Dunnet Bay Distillery, the thriving Caithness distillery, where husband and wife team, Martin and Claire Murray, handcraft Rock Rose Gin. This acclaimed gin features botanicals that are hand foraged from local cliffs and forests to create a gin with a unique and award-winning flavour profile.
Highland Council's new Administration met with all elected members today to discuss their new Programme, which will be launched next week. The Programme is based on three main themes: A Community-Led, Well-Served and a Fairer Highland.
DSRL have announced the new managing director designate, Phil Craig. With more than 20 years' experience in the nuclear industry, Phil’s career has focused on supporting the UK nuclear decommissioning, defence and existing power generation sectors.
UKAEA has been selected to supply the Hot Cell Remote Handling Facility for the new €1.8 billion European Spallation Source (ESS). ESS is currently under construction in Sweden.
An advanced nuclear materials research facility is being built at Culham. Construction of the new Material Research Facility (MRF) is progressing to schedule and is due to be completed this autumn, in time for opening in December 2015.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (July, 28th) sold 36 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (13) averaged 215.3p (+2.8p) and sold to 224p per kg and £1,416.45 gross.
The Highland Council has announced a date for the Council's Ward 13: Aird and Loch Ness by election following the resignation of Councillor Drew Hendry (SNP). Ward 13 is a four-member ward.
The test nuclear reactor at the Naval Reactor Test Establishment in Caithness has been officially shut down having safely completed its work. The Shore Test Facility (STF) reactor was closed down last night.
Week Commencing 20th July 2015 Energy & Business Services The Ministry of Defence's Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE) at Vulcan saw its test reactor shut down for the last time this week, marking the first time in around 60 years that there has not been an operational reactor in Caithness. The facility beside the Dounreay site is operated for the MoD by Rolls Royce.
Twelve students successfully completed the Ready Steady Work course held in early July. The four day course sponsored by DSRL and North Highland College was offered to all senior secondary schools in Wick, Thurso and Farr.
Highlands & Islands (Labour) MSP Rhoda Grant is disappointed with the response from Police Scotland after her calls for the planned closure of the Police and Fire Controls in Inverness to be halted, pending the on going HMI review into the operating functions of the Police Control Rooms. The review was set up after the tragic M9 incident in which Police Scotland handling of how a couple, who had crashed a car on this route near Stirling, were left without help for three days.
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, is outraged at a response from Minister of State, Andrea Leadsom MP, in which she not only gives little detail on progress being made on the Lewis interconnector but she also appears unwilling to look at national pricing for electricity network charges. Mrs Grant and her colleague, David Stewart MSP, had written to Amber Rudd MP, the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, last month about the Western Isles link and asked her to address the matter of the 2p surcharge on electricity which Highlands and Islands customers are charged for their network.
LORDS CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE DEVOLUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE UNION. The House of Lords Constitution Committee have today launched a new inquiry into the Union and devolution.
Highland Council Trading Standards have issued a warning of a new twist on previous cold call telephone scams, which has been termed as the ‘disconnection scam'. This recent type of scam can affect both businesses and consumers.
HMICS REVIEW OF POLICE SCOTLAND'S CONTACT, COMMAND AND CONTROL CENTRES. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland has published the Terms of Reference for the Review the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has directed it to carry out of all call handling and processes within Police Scotland's Contact, Command and Control (C3) centres.
LEADER of The Highland Council, Margaret Davidson has called for a pause on the decision to close the Inverness Control Room to emergency calls in December this year, pending the outcome of the national review. Cllr Davidson attended a meeting with Police Scotland yesterday, where she was briefed on the plans to relocate the Inverness Area Control Room and Service Centre functions from Inverness to Central belt control rooms.
The Leader of The Highland Council has written to the SPP to express concerns at the announcement of their intention to outsource work to India with the loss of 11 jobs to the Highland area. Cllr Davidson said: "This is a time when many in the public and private sector are trying to grow employment and the economy in the region and it is disappointing to see a respected organisation, with a close relationship to the public sector, reducing its local workforce and outsourcing employment elsewhere." She added, " I quite understand the changing nature of the press industry and the need to meet budgets, however, outsourcing jobs can never be a good solution for the economy of the Highlands.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (July, 21st) sold 54 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (32) averaged 212.5p (+0.7p) and sold to 234p per kg and £1,487.20 gross.
Week Commencing 13th July 2015 Energy & Business Services Good to catch up this week with Louise Smith of Caithness Renewables, and to hear the welcome news that the project she has been working on with Caithness Voluntary Group and Transition Black Isle has taken a big step forward. ACTION Highland Highway has been awarded £35,000 from CNSRP partner Scottish Government's Local Energy Challenge Fund in order to help establish a network of electric vehicle charging points, using an innovative link with Denchi Power, who supply batteries for use by the Ministry of Defence.
The contract applies to twelve sites throughout the UK managed by the decommissioning company Magnox Ltd as well as the nuclear site at Dounreay in Caithness, Scotland, Radioactive Waste Management Limited's site in Harwell and the Low-Level Waste Repository in West Cumbria. A number of segments make up the contrac.
