Deirdre's successful bid
Deirdre Mackay’s bid for funding for Helmsdale from the £300,000 town and village regeneration fund to capitalise on the 200th, anniversary of the Kildonan Clearances, has been successful.
An online guide to the Strath of Kildonan Clearances trail is being designed The Timespan museum and visitor centre, and it is forecast that many visitors will travel to Helmsdale and the Kildonan Strath next year to commemorate these important events in local and Scottish history
Deirdre Mackay said,
“ Ideas that are being considered include a ‘Descendants’ Wall, as well as a possible viewing platform at the Bridge Hotel car park with interpretative panels about the Clearances.
“Local people will also be consulted on how they think that the funding should be spent.
“We shall be consulting widely with the community on these proposals.
“The legacy of the Clearances remains a relatively untapped resource in terms of the local economy.
“However it remains an important driver.
“It is therefore important that developments are designed to attract increasing number of visitors, encourage them to stay longer, and most importantly to return and encourage other people to visit.”
Welcome for Brora opening of HomeAid Caithness and Sutherland
Deirdre Mackay has welcomed the opening of HomeAid Caithness & Sutherland in Brora.
She said,
“People are increasingly committed to recycling and the opportunity to locally recycle furniture and white goods will be well appreciated.
“I was involved in the original idea of HomeAid when I worked with CAB in Caithness and am delighted to see it now branch out in East Sutherland.
“ The opportunity to create jobs and volunteering opportunities is also very welcome and I am particularly pleased that HomeAid is working closely with Beachview in this respect.”
Helmsdale Hill Fire
Statement by Deirdre Mackay
“The hill fire started mid-afternoon and was finally extinguished around 4.30am and was attended by appliances and volunteers from all over the north.
“ I spoke with so many people in the village this morning expressing concern about the future of local services.
“The size of the fire, the speed with which it spread, the proximity to people’s homes and the number of appliances and firemen required to control it underline the need not only to retain our local services but also to have a full and frank discussion with the powers that be.
“Last week there was to be no consultation in Sutherland, this week we’ve been offered only one.
“To offer only one consultation for the whole of Sutherland frankly beggars belief and displays a breath-taking lack of understanding of both the geography and unique circumstances of our communities.
“This consultation is vitally important and needs to be close enough for people to travel to easily and also to have relevance to local issues. Highland Council organised a meeting in each ward for the budget consultation and we should settle for no less for our vital fire services.
“These recent fires have brought into sharp focus the consequences for our communities should our local services from Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service be diminished in any way.”
View Photographs of the fire >>>
Highland Labour launch manifesto for jobs, housing,
childcare and transport
Labour’s on your side – and we won’t walk away from tough choices.
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In building our manifesto, we’ve worked with party members and community representatives from across the Highlands to develop a programme which is clear about what‘s important to ordinary people. - Deirdre MacKay |
Labour is on your side in tough times – and we won’t walk away from tough
choices.
That’s the message from Highland Labour
to electors in the Highlands as they launch their
manifesto for the 2012 Highland Council elections.
Commitments to jobs for young
people, early years education, affordable housing and joined
up rural transport services are at the heart of Labour’s programme.
And the party has also affirmed its
commitment to action on a Living Wage for Highland
Council employees and other workers across Highland.
In these difficult times, Labour’s priorities will be:
· Jobs, skills and opportunities for young people
· Affordable childcare and early years education
· More affordable housing
· High quality, reliable public and community transport
· Close co-operation with the voluntary sector
· Respect, support and dignity for older people
Labour Group leader Jimmy Gray
says:
“To deliver on our priority commitments, Highland Labour believes it is
vital to maintain and
uphold financial discipline and control.
“We will not walk away from
difficult decisions but we will always do our utmost to protect
and develop essential services.
“The SNP are promising sound management.
“They need to explain why they walked away from difficult decisions in 2008.
“We didn’t walk away from the people of the Highlands then and we won’t walk away now.”
Key Highland Labour manifesto policies include:
· To work to ensure every teenager
who wants to work in the Highlands has an
apprenticeship or training programme improving their prospects of a real job
when they
leave school or college.
· To actively plan how Highland
Council can deliver a Living Wage for its own staff whilst
reviewing its procurement policies to ensure that a Living Wage is paid by all
companies
providing goods and services to the Council.
· To start talks aimed at setting
up a Highland-wide ‘childcare co-op’ to provide
affordable child care for working parents in every community where such a
service is needed.
· To set up a Highland-wide task
force to find fair ways to bring suitable land into use for
housing and to press the Scottish Government to release money for Highland
Council to
build new high-quality and affordable homes for rent.
· To work with the Scottish and UK
Governments, utility companies and others to
deliver
home insulation schemes that will make a difference to households in fuel
poverty.
· To support joined up transport schemes
which meet the needs of local communities
and to investigate why monopoly bus providers fail to meet the needs of people.
Former Westminster Candidate Mike Robb,
who is Labour and Co-operative candidate for
Ward 13, Aird & Loch Ness says:
“These are difficult times for any
council in Scotland. Coalition cuts, made worse by the
policies of the SNP government in Edinburgh mean that Highland Council has to
get its
priorities right.
“Our manifesto makes clear what we think those priorities should be.
“The SNP walked away in 2008 and left others to make the tough choices.
“We will never do that.
“Labour will always stand up for ordinary people in tough times.”
John Erskine, Scottish Labour Candidate for Ward 9, Dingwall & Seaforth says:
“As the youngest candidate for Scottish
Labour in the Highland Council area I am delighted
to see jobs, skills and opportunities for young people at the top of our Council
manifesto
priorities.”
Deirdre Mackay, Scottish Labour Councillor for Ward 5, East Sutherland &
Edderton, says:
“In building our manifesto, we’ve worked with party members and community
representatives from across the Highlands to develop a programme which is clear
about
what‘s important to ordinary people.”
Promoted by Kevin Mackay, agent on behalf of Deirdre Mackay both at 2 Muirfield Road Brora Sutherland KW9 6QY Hosted by Joe Handy 2 Somerville Place East Dundee DD3 6JL.