Benefits of Council works in Europe

The importance of Europe to the Highlands has been highlighted by the Leader of The Highland Council, Councillor Drew Hendry, who is Chair of the UK Transition Regions Network and is the UK representative on the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR).

Speaking at a meeting of the Council, he said: “Europe continues to be a hugely important source of funding for our rural and sparsely populated area and our economy is the stronger for our active involvement in seeking funding from a wide range of Euro sources. In my roles in Europe, I aim to raise the profile of the Council and of Highland as a pro-active player in the European arena.”

He said the region would benefit from £174 million between 2014-20 from the EU Regional Development and Social Funds alone as the result of the region’s success in retaining the ‘transition’ category of funding for these programmes.

The Council also lobbied the European Parliament to gain support for  important issues  such as retention  of air links, coastal and maritime protection and notably presenting to the General Assembly of the CPMR on specific issues of transport connectivity relating to the  peripheral regions  of Europe.

The Council helped change the adopted lobbying position of the CPMR on the Regional Aid Regulations to  be  more relevant and of direct benefit to the  businesses in  both Highland and the Highlands & Islands.

                                               -ends-