First full meeting of Recovery Board meets

The first full meeting of the Highland Council Recovery Board met (virtually) today. The full membership reflects political balance with 11 Members and 3 senior officers. A representative from the staff Unions will be joining the Board at its next meeting.

The Board today agreed a revised timetable of committee meetings to go to Council for approval in June. The draft calendar will be published on the Council website.

The meeting was held online as a result of a huge amount of work which has enabled greatly increased digital capacity and a secure and stable platform to be provided for online meetings. 

Members discussed at length the impact of Covid-19 on the economy of the Highlands and the need for a Highland wide approach to economic recovery and attracting new businesses to the region. The Board also committed to work in Partnership with other Agencies and the wider business community.

 Alasdair Christie, Chair of the Board and senior officers of the Council have been meeting with key partners to discuss high level principles of how to work together in a co-ordinated way on issues affecting various sectors of the economy.

 Members considered the approach to be taken to creating a Recovery Action Plan that recognises the need for flexibility, maintaining a state of readiness for response and resilience, while taking action to reinstate Services, governance and the wider Highland economy.

Chair of the Recovery Board, Cllr Alasdair Christie welcomed new members of the Board to the online meeting. He said: “The Council has a pivotal role in assisting all sectors with economic recovery and developing a collaborative plan for economic recovery.”

Progress on Recovery will be reported to the full meeting of Council in June.

Notes

Membership of the Recovery Board is as follows:

Depute Leader, Cllr Alasdair Christie (Chair)

Cllr Glynis Campbell-Sinclair

Cllr Carolyn Caddick

Joint Leader of the Opposition, Dr Ian Cockburn

Leader, Cllr Margaret Davidson

Cllr Ken Gowans

Cllr Jimmy Gray

Cllr Andrew Jarvie

Convener, Cllr Bill Lobban

Budget Leader, Cllr Alister Mackinnon

Cllr Peter Saggers

Senior Officers are:

Chief Executive Donna Manson

Executive Chief Officer Malcolm MacLeod

Interim Executive Chief officer (Transformation) Allan Gunn