The Caithness & North Sutherland Fund recently awarded its 2nd round of grants for 2012 to community projects totalling £101,342. Six groups in Caithness and two groups in the North Sutherland area have been awarded funding for projects that help to improve the attractiveness of their area as a place to live, work and invest.
29/05/2012. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, will outline the next stage of its Helix Nebula European cloud computing project at the Cloud Computing World Forum (www.cloudwf.com) on 12 and 13 June, with the aim of increasing participation in the scheme.
Closing Date For SNH Photo Contest - 31 July 2012. To celebrate Scotland's amazing biodiversity, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) have launched a free photo contest.
Scottish Bakers welcome the statement from the Treasury to reverse their decision to apply a tax on bakery products sold over ambient temperature. Alan Clarke Chief Executive of Scottish Bakers supported this decision, "bakery products contribute £594.7M to the Scottish Economy and the proposed legislation was totally flawed by proposing to tax bakery products sold over ambient temperature.
Dear Sir or Madam, As rising energy bills and other costs continue to eat into many household budgets, I would like to let your readers know about free and subsidised home insulation offers currently available from UK energy suppliers. These offers are heavily subsidised as a result of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) which finishes on 31 December this year.
People are being reminded to play it safe in and around rivers, reservoirs and lochs across the Highlands during the hot and sunny weather. Joanna Peebles, Scottish Water's regional community manager for the area, who is concerned people might take unnecessary risks around water, said today: "While it's important that people enjoy the good weather and take pleasure in the country's beautiful lochs, rivers and reservoirs, it's also vital that they stay safe.
National policies must be better tailored and localised for supporting rural Scotland, argues a new SAC Rural Policy Centre report published today 28th May 2012. Rural Scotland in Focus 2012 (RSiF 2012) draws together the available evidence to paint a detailed picture of rural Scotland today and how it is changing.
Police in the Western Isles have traced a woman in connection with allegations of fraud at numerous Hotels and Bed and Breakfast establishments throughout the Highlands. The woman, who is 28 years of age was expected to appear at Stornoway Sheriff Court today, Monday, 28th May, 2012.
Twenty years of films locating in the Highlands being celebrated in Cannes. The Highlands of Scotland Film Commission, which is part of The Highland Council, is twenty years old, and to celebrate a brand new Highlands film app is being promoted in Cannes.
A key industry strategy to capitalise on Scotland's smart grid expertise and create thousands of new jobs in Scotland is published today. The strategy includes a target to create up to 12,000 new jobs by 2020, by supporting work to secure Scotland's place as an exemplar in smart grid adoption and as a leading international provider of Smart Grid technologies and know-how.
Wave, tidal and offshore wind developments have international attention. Scotland is leading the world in the development of offshore renewables - according to two senior figures from development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
The Highland Council will be asked at its next meeting on Thursday 31 May to agree a new committee structure and elect office-bearers. A motion from the Administration of SNP, Liberal Democrat and Labour Group members - to be moved by the Leader, Drew Hendry and Depute Leader David Alston - proposes the creation of four strategic committees, namely: Finance, Housing and Resources; Planning Environment and Development; Transport Environmental Community Services and Adult and Children's Services.
Cut-price alcohol will become a thing of the past after Parliament today passed the Alcohol Minimum Pricing Bill. This will pave the way for the introduction of a preferred minimum price of 50p per unit The move is a significant step forward in the Scottish Government's efforts to tackle Scotland's unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
Thousands of Scottish companies are landing contracts after signing up to a free website for public sector work, a report revealed recently. The Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) site advertises billions of pounds' worth of contracts offered by the Scottish public sector.
Around £500 million will be invested to deliver next generation broadband to communities and businesses across Scotland by 2015, potentially supporting thousands of jobs and boosting Scotland's economy, Alex Neil pledged this week. The Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment was speaking as the Scottish Government published a procurement plan detailing how contracts will be awarded to reduce the digital divide and to deliver a significant improvement in speed and coverage of broadband for every community in Scotland by 2015.
The Scottish Government today submitted evidence to the independent UK pay review bodies which challenges the coalition government's economic case for regional pay. The UK Government is proposing to reduce the pay of those working in parts of the public sector by aligning pay with local market conditions.
A multi-million pound fund to help develop Scotland's first commercial wave and tidal power arrays was opened in Aberdeen. Addressing the AllEnergy conference in Aberdeen, First Minister Alex Salmond announced that Scotland's Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) was now open for bids by marine energy developers.
Alex Neil, Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital investment, in early Maay 2012 announced the new People and Communities Fund to promote and support community-led regeneration initiatives across Scotland, is open for applications. The People and Communities Fund will invest in community anchor organisations that deliver local regeneration activity and promote change in our most disadvantaged communities.
A movement ban on Persistently Infected cattle is being proposed as part of plans to eradicate bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) in Scotland. The next phase of the eradication programme kicked off today with a consultation into the latest stage of the scheme.
The increasing appetite for 'grow your own' was served up a cash boost earlier this month by Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson Mr Stevenson announced a £600,000 package of support to encourage the development of more community growing and support the growth of Scotland's grow your own sector. £450,000 of the funding has been allocated to the Central Scotland Green Network Development Fund and will be distributed to community growing projects over three years.
