Thirty manufacturing projects delivered in the Highlands and Islands last year have helped generate £1.9 million in productivity. The figures are being released by the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) which works across the Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise areas.
An award winning mural designed by North Primary School promoting recycling has been used to create eye-catching banners which will be on display at the Council's Recycling Centres at Wick and Seater. The Recycling Mural competition, run by the Council's Waste Aware Team, proved to be very popular with 55 primary schools submitting a total of 119 entries, with a wide array of styles and ideas.
The new head teacher of Wick North Primary School is Ms Wendy Scollay who is currently head teacher at Kilchuimen Primary in Fort Augustus. Originally from Wick and a former pupil at Wick North Primary, Ms Scollay starts as head teacher at the school in August for the new term.
Bernadette Monaghan, the National Convener of Children's Hearings, Scotland, met with members of The Highland Children' Panel Advisory Committee on thursday 16 June 2011 as part of her consultation with local authorities on the future structure and function of the Children's Panel Area Support Teams. Her post, and the reform of the Children's Hearings system that is underway, are all the result of the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, which was passed in January 2011.
NDA to seek views on removal of fuel from Dounreay. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is to publish a report about the proposed removal of its nuclear fuel from Dounreay and wants to hear the views of the public.
Planning for Integration - development of a lead agency model in Highland for care and health services Highland Councillors and the NHS Highland Board will be asked next week to press ahead with plans for the integration of health and social care services. The Scottish Government is looking to the Highlands to produce a model for care and support services for adults and children, that can influence developments across Scotland.
Actions set out to support marine renewable energy in North Highland The Highland Council has published a 10-point Action Plan which it is developing with key partners, to help plan for the growth of the marine renewable energy industry in North Highland. This follows on from Onshore Visioning workshops held at the Castle of Mey in August 2010 and February 2011 to which a wide range of people and organisations were invited.
Week commencing 6th June: Energy: Meygen, the company behind the proposed 400MW tidal energy site between Stroma and the Caithness coast, has begun its consenting phase of work. I met with Meygen's Environment & Consents Manager, who has been helped this week by colleagues at DSRL to circulate information on the company's forthcoming public open days to gather comments on environmental impacts that might arise from the development.
Government legislation to safeguard the future of Royal Mail and keep the Post Office in public ownership has today been agreed by both Houses of Parliament. Business Secretary Vince Cable said:"Today marks a significant milestone for Royal Mail.
Tain and Easter Ross by-election result •Detailed election results The five-cornered by-election for Tain and Easter Ross (Ward 8) on The Highland Council has resulted in a victory for Mrs Fiona Robertson, Independent. The by-election followed the death of SNP councillor Alan Torrance, 68, in March after a long illness.
The Highland Council is reminding members of the public not to feed seagulls as it re-launches its campaign to raise awareness of the problem of seagulls nesting in Highland urban areas. A guidance leaflet on seagull control is available on the Highland Council website at: www.highland.gov.uk/seagullcontrol and from Council Service Points, Libraries and Transport Environmental and Community Services offices.
At peak times significant traffic delays are anticipated Major repairs are required to the north expansion joint on both carriageways of the Kessock Bridge and remedial works to the bridge deck surfacing. The works will start on Sunday 19th June 2011, for 8 days using a 24 hour contra flow working with a 30mph speed restriction.
Following on from the launch of the new Mey Market, which is proving very popular with locals and visitors, stallholders have been invited to showcase their products at Ackergill Tower, when 'The World' cruise liner visits Wick next week. This is an opportunity to show the passengers what quality products are available locally and is a further boost to the Market in these early days.
The MeyGen tidal energy project is a 400MW project in the early stages of development located in the Inner Sound, Pentland Firth. We are currently carrying out a consultation process in order to canvass opinion of which of the environmental impacts should be focussed upon in the Environmental Impact Assessment.
Caithness & North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership (CNSRP) Business and community leaders heard an upbeat assessment of future prospects for the north as senior partners in Caithness & North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership (CNSRP) met last week in Wick with members of the Partnership's Advisory Board to discuss current issues. Following the meeting, CNSRP Chairman Sir Anthony Cleaver said "This was a particularly good time for our joint meeting as we were able to reflect on the three-year plan we set out in 2007 and to look forward to our current plan for the period 2011-2014.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is taking the first steps towards implementing a transformational project which will deliver access to superfast broadband for homes and businesses across the Highlands and Islands over the next few years. The agency, working in partnership on the project with the UK Government Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), the Scottish Government and local authorities, has launched a procurement process to appoint a suitably experienced partner to co-invest in the provision of Next Generation Broadband (NGB) services throughout the region.
Homes of early Caithness fishermen saved A fundraising appeal to raise £600,000 to save a row of early fishermen's dwellings has been completed. The Landmark Trust, the building preservation charity behind the project, will now begin to restore the Shore Cottages at Berriedale, Caithness in order to give them a secure, new future.
The iconic John O'Groats hotel is set to have one final moment of glory before work begins to redevelop it as part of the regeneration of the well known tourist location later this year. It will form the centre piece of 'Transform', a weekend of community celebration at the start of July at John O'Groats featuring street art, video projections, ceramic firings, story-telling, and music.
The Highland Council has welcomed the high level of interest from members of the public applying for positions of directors of the board of High Life Highland, the new arms length company which will deliver community learning and leisure services on behalf of the Council. When the deadline closed on Friday 3 June, the Council had received 35 applications.
Employers in the Highlands are being encouraged to take on people with barriers to getting in to work through assistance from Skills Development Scotland (SDS). The Employer Recruitment Incentive (ERI) is delivered by SDS - Scotland's skills body - and offers businesses up to £2000 when they employ someone who has been out of work for some time or faced barriers in the past.