Highland Council Capital Programme Review

Council Leader Raymond Bremner has said that the Council will continue to face challenges in respect of capital investment but that it is necessary to agree £343m of General Fund capital investment over the 5-year period 2024/25 to 2028/29, in order to fund a number of priorities, while remaining affordable.

“The Council has needed to review the capital programme for some time due to significant inflationary costs seen in projects across the previous programme making it unaffordable. The results of the review that are being presented to council for approval, are a revision of capital works that include appropriate mitigations to make progress and ensure the safety of our pupils and staff in our schools.

“The programme, if agreed, will reaffirm the Council’s commitment to projects currently being implemented as a result of previous phases of the Scottish Government’s Learning Investment Programme (LEIP). The programme will also allocate funding supporting repairs and maintenance of named school projects included in the Council’s bid to Phase 3 of LEIP. The Council remains totally committed to building the named schools in the paper that is coming to council but this is contingent on funding being made available from the Scottish Government.

“We will continue to progress these projects as far as the Council can to ensure that the projects are deliverable should Scottish Government funding be forthcoming. As an example, the Council has already agreed to and is now completing the purchase of the land for building St Clements School.

“The Highland Council has a vast infrastructure estate with over 200 schools. Our vision is to provide the best possible school environments for our pupils, and we will continue to work with our partners, parents, communities and Scottish Government to achieve the investment required.”