Council leader Raymond Bremner wants a 'listening council' as new programme is developed
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The leader of Highland Council, Raymond Bremner, talked about current challenges the local authority faces and how the newly announced Council Programme will help "empower" Highland communities.
Progress on the development of the new Council Programme will be reported to council today (September 22), it was announced.
The council leader, Wick and East Caithness councillor Raymond Bremner said: “The context of the development of this new Programme is set against a backdrop of ongoing recovery from the pandemic, a war in Ukraine, the impact of Brexit, and a financial and cost of living crisis. This context not only affects our available budget and expenditure, but also deeply influences our priorities, as each and every one of these affects our Highland communities and business and family budgets.
“The Programme is an opportunity to focus on where and how the council can enable, support and empower Highland communities to be resilient and sustainable; lever in investment and build a strong economy; maximise our assets; and protect and enhance our natural environment.
“This will be a Programme for the Highlands and I am keen that this should be ambitious for the next five years and beyond, with regular review and responsiveness to changing needs.
“I want our council to be known as a 'listening council'. We want to collaborate across the chamber and plan to engage with members, staff and communities, not just on our Programme priorities, but on an ongoing basis in order to continually inform our priorities going forward.”
Convener of the council Bill Lobban added: “The financial context is clearly challenging for everyone. However, I believe we can still be an ambitious and high performing council, using modern, tried and tested, management techniques to continue the council’s ongoing redesign programme. Sound financial management has enabled this council to be on a much more sustainable footing on which to build and we must continue to be prudent.”
The Council Programme will go to council for approval on October 27.
