The Highland Council has appointed Garry Cameron to the post of temporary Ward Manager for North, West and Central Sutherland. Garry, who previously held the position with Police Scotland as Area Commander for the North, will take up his post on Monday 11th August and be based in the Council Offices at Drummuie, Golspie..
A brand new children's food festival will take place in the North Highlands in the summer of 2015 it has been announced. Created and organised by the North Highland Initiative (NHI) in partnership with Scotland Food & Drink, the festival will take place from 5 and 6 June 2015 and aims to highlight the importance of local food production, how to make great cuisine and good food choices and the variety of career opportunities in food production and service.
Trials of a new method of repairing roads have got underway in Sutherland. The technique, known as road recycling, involves re-using the existing road surface materials to create a new road surface, rather than importing large quantities of new materials.
From councillor Deirdre Mackay, Highland Council ‘This is Brora not Beverley Hills and it's a classic example of what we are now seeing at family events across Highland. ‘Since I first raised this issue in June the responses from Police Scotland become ever stranger.
Residents and businesses in areas of Ross-shire, Orkney and Sutherland are to join the growing number of people able to access fibre broadband in the Highlands and Islands as part of a publicly funded project. Roll-out started in Buckie in Moray in February and 14,500 premises in Moray and Highland can now get better connected through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project.
Queen's Baton Relay Route in Highland 9th - 12th July 2014 Wednesday 9th July Ullapool Ferry in at 9am Baton Bearing starts 0925 Route follows from pier, along Shore St and Mill St to Morefield. Visits Macphail Centre [AT] Ullapool High School Short welcome and photo opp at Pier.
Forestry Commission Scotland are currently reviewing the Land Management Plan for Rogart, Achormlarie & Dornoch forest blocks situated between Dornoch, Bonar Bridge & Rogart. The Land Management Plan will set out the long term vision for management of the forests and details felling and replanting for the next ten years.
Highland Councillors have approved £20,000 funding towards the appointment of a Project Manager to spearhead the establishment of a Highland Science Academy on the new Inverness Campus at Beechwood. The new post will be responsible for taking forward an action plan to progress the Science Academy project over a 2 year period.
The next Highland Council budget forum will be held at 6.30pm on Tuesday 8 July in Strathy Village Hall, Strathy, Sutherland. It is the latest in a series of budget events being held to consult the public over spending priorities between 2015-2019, during which time the Council has to find savings of an estimated £63 million.
A new community-owned sports facility is being formally opened in Sutherland later this week. The Scourie Sports Pavilion will be opened on Saturday 7 June by Lady Jane Grosvenor followed by the annual Far North Shinty Sixes competition.
Members of the Council’s Education, Adult and Children’s Services (ECAS) Committee have agreed to £600,000 funding towards two Care and Learning Service projects - a wireless installation project in Highland schools; and a housing development for adults with complex needs. An additional £550,000 for the second phase of a project to create wireless environments in all Highland schools by April 2015 was endorsed by Members.
A national multi-agency doorstep crime operation, led by Police Scotland, has been a major success in preventing and beating the rogue traders and doorstep con men. Police and other agencies detected over 1,000 offences during the dates of operational activity, with over 200 individuals being subsequently arrested.
North Sutherland held its first Seashore Festival to celebrate the heritage and culture of the seashore at the weekend with Strathnaver Museum and The Highland Council’s Caithness and Sutherland Countryside Rangers arranged a fun-filled day of art and craft activities, music, history and natural history identification skills. Visitors began arriving on Saturday at 10am and helped to create a colourful wall of fish and a seashore collage depicting Bettyhill Fishing Station and Torrisdale Bay made from items found on the shore.
A derelict railway station in Sutherland has been refurbished to bring it back to life. It is now available for community use as well as to provide accommodation for visitors.
The four North Highland College UHI (NHC) campuses are ever expanding and having had over £11 million invested over the last five years, is now opening its doors to offer campus tours for the general public. The scheduled tours are available to book online via the college website - www.northhighland.uhi.ac.uk and will entail a general tour of one of the four campuses based in Thurso, Halkirk, Alness and Dornoch.
Food and drink businesses across the Highlands and Islands and within the Cairngorms National Park area have just days left before the deadline to enter the region’s largest and most prestigious food and drink industry awards. As the Wednesday, 23 April deadline approaches for entries for this year’s Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards, sponsored by Gordon & MacPhail and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), organisers are calling on the area’s food and drink businesses to make sure they don’t miss the closing date.
Today Sarah Boyack MSP Scottish Labour's Shadow Cabinet Member for Local Government met with Highlands Councillors Deirdre Mackay and Jimmy Gray to discuss how Labour would reverse the centralisation seen under the SNP. Sarah Boyack MSP said "Scottish Labour is committed to more powers for local authorities as part of our ambitions for stronger devolution in Scotland.
Police to carry out test purchasing operations in Caithness and Sutherland in the coming weeks. Police Scotland Highland and Islands Division will be carrying out test purchasing operations in the Caithness and Sutherland areas of the Division in the coming weeks.
First course being run in Wick Wednesday 30th April 2014 This is a one day course and it covers all the usual first aid subjects, but from a boating perspective. It is aimed at anyone who goes afloat, whether on inland waters, rivers or at sea.
