'The future's here in the north' – Focus North conference in Thurso highlights the best Caithness has to offer
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A business conference held at the Weigh Inn hotel in Thurso yesterday included many of the key industries in Caithness and focussed on positivity and resilience.
Focus North is made up of the Caithness Chamber of Commerce, Dounreay Site Restoration Limited, Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Government and the University of Highlands and Islands, and all partners have committed to developing a "fairer, resilient, more balanced economy, working to grow the working population and higher average household incomes".
Simon Middlemas, chair of Focus North, talked after the event and explained how the organisation came into being: "It all comes from the Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership, of course, and that was built around Dounreay decommissioning and the impact on jobs.
"Focus North is built on the fact that Dounreay is going to be here for some time and there are some massive opportunities around us right now which we need to grasp with both hands. For instance, West of Orkney Windfarm, Pentland Floating [Offshore] Windfarm, and the Space Hub in Sutherland. Dounreay is still here and there are opportunities for hydrogen storage – the list goes on and on. Tourism's in there too of course.
Mr Middlemas admitted there are very big challenges in the economy right now and "we have to focus on the stuff we can control" and learn how to sell the area positively. "The future's here in the north. We don't need to focus south, we need to focus north."
The key elements he stressed were "attitude and positive thinking". There are aspects of the far north that cannot be found south, he said, and these areas should be focussed upon as major selling points for Caithness and Sutherland.
