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We are running a Beginners SLR Course on Sunday 20th September (provisional) at Castletown Heritage Centre. It will be a one day course which will help you understand your camera, and improve your photography skills immediately.
The public will soon be able to follow debates on important Highland planning and licensing issues from the comfort of their own homes. In a pilot scheme starting soon, meetings held in the Council Chamber at Inverness of the strategic Planning Environment and Development Committee as well as Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey Planning Applications Committee and Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey Licensing Committee will be broadcast live via webcasting on the Council's web site: www.highland.gov.uk.
Council Welcomes Dingwall Streetscape Funding The Highland Council has been successful with a funding bid to the Scottish Government for a facelift of Dingwall High Street. A grant of £462,000 will contribute towards a £947,000 package for town centre improvements.
POLICE are warning householders in the Caithness area about bogus door to door sellers, offering sub-standard goods. There have been a number of reported incidents in the Caithness area of people having purchased items from door to door salesmen, which have subsequently turned out to be faulty or poor quality.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (August, 4th) sold 70 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (33) averaged 169.2p (-2.6p) and sold to 180p per kg and £1,231.65 gross.
Further new measures to create a more effective planning system to support economic recovery come into effect today. The changes include: * Establishing local review bodies so that councillors, rather than the Scottish Government, can review decisions made over small-scale, local developments * A requirement on developers to consult communities before submitting major development proposals * More information being made available on planning decisions * Increasing the options for planning authorities to take effective enforcement action Infrastructure Minister Stewart Stevenson said: "The Scottish Government is working to ensure Scotland's planning system is increasingly joined up, providing greater certainty and speed of decision making for developers and communities.
A team of highly experienced archaeologists from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) are coming to Caithness in September to run a free archaeological training course as part of the Scotland's Rural Past nationwide project. They are calling for local people to sign up and get involved.
Months of hard work have paid off for seven Highland independent museums. Dunbeath Heritage Centre, Timespan (Helmsdale), Groam House Museum (Rosemarkie), Ullapool Museum, Grantown Museum, Gairloch Heritage Museum and the Museum of the Isles on Skye have all achieved museum accreditation, meeting the set of national standards for UK museums.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (July, 21st) sold 75 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (45) averaged 161.3p (-5.0p) and sold to 177p per kg and £1,174.55 gross.
The Caithness Broch Centre opens to the public on Saturday 25 July with a day of activities and talks. The centre, based in Auckengill Old School, takes over where the Northlands Viking Centre left off some three years ago.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd, (July, 15th) sold 1,249 store cattle at the Anniversary show and sale. The Judge, Mr Tom Stevenson of Balmacolly Farm, Bankfoot, chose a 435kg junior Limousin cross bullock from Messrs Smallburn Farms Ltd, Duffus, Elgin, which realised £1,050, as his Overall Champion in the T.S.H.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (July, 14th) sold 90 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (49) averaged 166.3p (-4.1p) and sold to 180p per kg and £1,192.80 gross.
The Highland Council is seeking tenders from contractors to build the first two phases of the South-West Inverness Flood Relief Channel, having obtained the necessary Flood Prevention Order and planning consent for the £10 million project. To be completed over five years in phases, the scheme will divert flood water from the south side of Inverness away from residential housing in Hilton, Lochardil and Holm, picking up overflow water from the south side burns and leading this to the River Ness at Holm Mains.
(LONDON, UK) Xtrakter, the market utility, released the following figures today: Fixed income new issuance was valued at USD 1 trillion for Q2 2009 representing a 15% (USD 180 billion) drop on Q2 2008 figures. During the same period asset backed new issuance accounted for USD 100.6 billion of all issues down by 54.1% (USD 118.7 billion) and the overall size of the international capital market rose by 10.3% (USD 1.3 trillion) to a total value of USD 14.1 trillion.
Businesses are reminded to be vigilant with regards to scam e-mails for accommodation bookings as there seems to be a few about at the moment. Providers have let us know about what looks like a scam requesting accommodation for six priests from Greece.
Following a comprehensive tender exercise, The Highland Council has entered into contracts with three independent sector providers, to deliver additional care at home services across the Highlands, which will supplement the services provided by the Council's in-house team of home carers and services already purchased from the independent sector. The successful bidders, British Red Cross, Independent Living Services and Crossroads Caring Scotland, will collectively deliver an extra 117,000 hours per annum of care at home in the Highlands.
Team TIC from Wick High school were among the finalists in a Highlands and Islands-wide information and communications technology competition. The inventiveness and marketing skills of TIC saw them reach the last six of the 2009 ICT Youth Challenge and win the Microsoft-sponsored award for the project with the best commercial potential.
Properties in the Caithness village of Castletown that have experienced flooding in recent years are benefiting from the completion of a £136,000 Scottish Water project to upgrade the local sewer system. An investigation showed that a section of pipe under Main Street struggled to cope during downpours of heavy rain, causing water and sewage to back up and flood nearby properties.