DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (February, 19th) sold 94 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (44) averaged 208.0p (-0.8p) and sold to 228p per kg and £1,654.80 gross.
A Caithness based processor and supplier of locally sourced shellfish which recently expanded its business is celebrating 20 years of success based at Scrabster harbour. JPL Shellfish has been serving customers across the UK since it was established in 1992, and an increase in requests to export live shellfish to new international markets has resulted in an expansion of its premises.
At today’s Caithness and Sutherland Area Committee members awarded Pulteneytown People’s project £90,506 from the Deprived Area Fund which will be used to provide services to local people through the Advice Centre. This will be used to support the work of the one-stop shop to provide local people help and advice with benefits, staying on at school, re-training, housing issues and applying for jobs.
Scotland’s regional airport operator got off to a strong start to 2013, with a significant rise in passenger numbers in January. Latest figures from airport group HIAL show that its 11 airports handled 84,981 passengers last month, an increase of 9.1% on January 2012.
Work to develop infrastructure for Inverness Campus at Beechwood, Inverness, is now well underway, with completion of this phase of the project due early summer this year. This means development of Inverness College UHI's new building will soon commence and plots on Inverness Campus will become available for other organisations and businesses.
RWE npower renewables (RWE NRL) is encouraging local people in Caithness to take part in the Caithness Conversation, a discussion about how the community funds linked to wind farms can best be used to support the area. RWE NRL, one of the UK's leading renewable energy developers, invests more than £75,000 per annum in Caithness through community funds associated with its wind farms.
Inverness Campus contractor Morgan Sindall is working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to ensure all final arrangements are in place before installing a new cycle and pedestrian bridge over the A9 in the coming weeks. The bridge, which weighs 290 tonnes, is being pieced together on HIE’s Inverness Campus site, at Beechwood, East Inverness.
People in Caithness and Sutherland looking for new career opportunities in business services are being encouraged to attend an event in Thurso this Saturday (23 Feb). Experts from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will be amongst exhibitors at the Caithness ‘Jobs and How to Get Them’ fair at the ETEC Building, North Highland College.
Tourism, Food & Drink: Talent Scotland is currently advertising a Graduate Team Leader post, salary £16,000 p.a., for Natural Retreats who are recruiting for a recent graduate for a 12 month Team Leader role. The successful graduate will have the opportunity to work closely with an experienced General Manager and with senior members of the Natural Retreats team.
The Caithness and Sutherland Area Committee will take place at Timespan in Helmsdale next Monday and top of the agenda, is a Highland Council key Programme priority for the economy, tourism. Area Leader Councillor Deirdre Mackay said: “Tourism is one of the main sectors of employment in the Highlands and it is with this in mind that I felt it would be meaningful to hold the committee in Timespan.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts, (February, 13th) sold 1,380 sheep of all classes. Lambs (852) averaged £42.45 and sold to £85 gross for Texels from Teanluick, Beauly, (Beaton).
This report was produced by Citizens Advice Bureaux in Highland Introduction In 2011/12 Highland bureaux advised clients on 24166 new benefit issues, on-going clients returning for further advice were further advised on 21303 repeat benefit issues. The bureau therefore dealt with 45469 benefit issues, 125 issues for every day of the year.
To support a new ‘golden era’ of investment in the electricity infrastructure of the north of Scotland, leading energy company SSE is on the look out for bright sparks from across the region to become its next generation of power workers. Part of an annual scheme, SSE is searching for 36 talented individuals for its 2013 Modern Apprenticeship programme with places located at over 15 of its sites across the north of Scotland including Inverness, Muir of Ord, Foyers in the Great Glen, Golspie, Fort William, Dingwall, Aberdeen and Peterhead.
COMMITTEE URGES SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT TO RESPOND TO ITS REPORT: “SEPARATION SHUTS SHIPYARDS” The Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee has today written to Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Deputy First Minister for Scotland, to ask the Scottish Government to formally respond to the Committee’s recent report, “Separation Shuts Shipyards”. In the report, published 20 January 2013, the Committee warned that the Scottish shipbuilding industry and its employees face a choice between two very different futures at the referendum on Separation.
Ballot papers for the Inverness Business Improvement District (BID) renewal election arrived on the doorsteps of 676 voters in 447 premises on Friday 8th February 2013. The election is being conducted by The Highland Council and voters have until 5pm on Thursday 21 March to return their ballot papers.
After four years as home to Training At Naver the Naver Business Centre in Thurso has re-opened it’s doors to the business community. On offer is a variety of furnished, serviced offices, to accommodate between one and six people per office, in a modern business environment, with the option of multiple occupancy for larger businesses.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Scottish Development International (SDI) and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) invite companies to find out more about business opportunities that exist in the Nordics and Baltics at this free half day event in Inverness on Tuesday 5th March. This event is organised as part of Smart Exporter, a new international trade skills programme, designed to increase skills and knowledge amongst Scottish businesses.
At a special meeting on Thursday 7th February 2013 The Highland Council has agreed to freeze the Council Tax for a sixth successive year and confirmed a budget of £548.436 million for 2013-14. The Council Tax bands will remain: Band A: £775.33; Band B: £904.56; Band C: £1,033.78; Band D: £1,163.00; Band E: £1,421.44; Band F: £1,679.89; Band G: £1,938.33; Band H: £2,326.00.
Tourism, Food & Drink: The Institute of Design Innovation has been working with a small group of tourism businesses in Caithness & North Sutherland on a HIE-funded programme to stimulate innovation in creating high quality visitor experiences. The cluster of businesses meets regularly with facilitators from the Institute, and its progress can be seen at http://www.culturesofinnovation.co.uk/cns Tourism Intelligence Scotland is promoting a workshop run by Wild Scotland on "Wildlife Tourism" for tourism businesses.
FORT WILLIAM, Dingwall & Highland Marts, (February, 7th) sold 668 sheep of all classes. Lambs (401) averaged £28.68 and sold to £59.50 gross for a pen of Suffolk crosses from Ardtornish Farms, Oban.
