HIE chairman praises community groups in Caithness and Sutherland for Covid response
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The chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise has praised community groups in Caithness and Sutherland for the support they have provided throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are really impressed by what community anchor organisations are doing," Alistair Dodds said. "We have invested about three-quarters of a million in community anchor organisations to make sure that local issues are being addressed and there are some incredible efforts.”
Mr Dodds was speaking after he and other senior figures from the development agency hosted a board engagement session with businesses, community groups and representative bodies from Caithness and Sutherland, looking at how they have been adapting over the past year and the supporting role of HIE.
He said they had spoken to groups from a number of communities across the far north.
“One of the issues that did come up was about volunteer burnout and the fact they have put in so much effort over a period of 14 months, not just helping the local population but also trying to take forward developments," Mr Dodds added. "There are some really good things happening across these communities.”
The chairman pointed out that an important aspect of the board engagement session was "about listening".
Some businesses had reported a shortage of raw materials such as timber or steel, and rising costs for these, although it was difficult to judge whether Brexit or Covid-19 was the main factor. With the cost of some materials “pretty much doubling” over 12 months, this was having an impact on the ability of some firms to take projects forward.
Other businesses had reported a shortage of skilled or semi-skilled staff, he said.
Transport issues, including the future Wick John O'Groats Airport, had been brought up. So too had the need to encourage people back into town centres after working from home.
Mr Dodds agreed that tourism "has to be managed responsibly" and said of the sector: “It is obviously beneficial to the area but it is not always seen as a positive, even though it brings considerable revenue.
“We talked about the need to invest in tourism, and that is one of the things I am trying to do with the tourism infrastructure fund that has gone out to the Highlands and Islands."
Mr Dodds added: “One of the themes that came out was about the importance of the public sector working together with communities and businesses to try and address some of the issues raised.
"So it's about Highland Council, Skills Development Scotland, UHI and the Scottish Government all trying to work together – not just to make plans but to act. We have to do things as opposed to speaking about them, because some of these problems have been going on for a number of years.”
