Quote of the week

"We (the community council) would have been more active in our concerns but we felt reassured on the basis that there was to be a hearing”.

[The Chairman of a local community council on reading in the press that the Inverness Airport Business Park Planning Application was to be considered on Tuesday 8th December without the benefit of the planning hearing that the community council had been informed would take place]

Early Christmas Presents

Cawdor Maintenance Trust has submitted further information with respect to their Mixed Use Development Plans 08/00080/OUTNA at Delnies.

There is a formal consultation on this and representations should be made in writing to the Area Planning and Building Standards Manager by 12 January 2010.

Copies of the relevant documents will be available at Church Street Inverness and The Court House, Nairn.

"An unrivalled range of excellent opportunites"

News from the largest employer in Highland:

"Whatever your educational background, whatever your age, whether you have little work experience or a lot, there are jobs at Highland Council for everyone. And remember, if you cannot work full time, most of our jobs are open to job sharing and there is also a range of part time, standby, casual and sessional jobs."

For the latest list of jobs click here

Easter Ross Ward Forum does Housing

Part of the latest press release from Highland Council:

"The Highland Council is currently developing the Highland’s third Housing Strategy. It will set out the main housing issues and its strategic direction - what it aims to do; what are the priorities and how Highland’s resources will be used including those used to provide new houses.

David Goldie, Highland Council’s Head of Housing, said the aim of the Council is to ensure everyone in Highland has a good quality, warm, affordable, secure home which meets their needs in a pleasant and thriving community.

“We are consulting with people across Highland to help us decide what action to take. This will help us understand what their priorities are, and what changes are needed, so that we can take these on board,” he said."

[Next week (9 & 10 December 2009) households from the Cromarty Firth to the Dornoch Firth are being invited to have a say on how The Council and its partners can meet people’s housing needs and deal with housing issues over the next 5 years.]

Strictly tinged with sadness

A belated rundown of Saturday's 'Strictly' fringe fest:

We really missed Jade this week.

Chris - does he ever lose his cool? - danced cheekily and survived

Ricky - "too cool for school" - looked tired and uncomfortable and very nearly didn't survive

Ali - never mind the sequins, where are the bandages -danced kookily and survived the pain and the vote

Laila - "we're so glad Anton's got this far" - gave Anton the chance to shine and survived

The dream ended for Natalie, sadly, despite doing her best with another confident performance. The crowd, determined to show their appreciation for her attitude throughout the series , gave her a send off (uninterrupted applause and a standing ovation) as enthusiastic as her appearances in the show - and all this while Bruce and Tess tried to draw things to the usual conclusion.

Must confess, I was sad to see Natalie go

(Still think the show is too much stuffing and not enough turkey these days though!)