Caithness Courier headlines for April 30, 2014

SCRABSTER will be getting a new business park after ambitious plans for a site near the hearbour were approved. Scrabster Harbour Trust's application for the park on 32 acres of former farmland went before Highland Council's north plaznning committee yesterday having been recommended for approval.

CAITHNESS should "grab with open arms" the opportunities renewable energy offers the county as it tries to place the jobs being lost at Dounreay. That was said by Kevin Coyne, the national officer for the Unite Union during a visit to the far north this week with Shadow Energy Minister Tom Greatrex. Mr Coyne, who last visited Caithness two years ago, said the area is well placed to capitalise on the offshore renewable energy opportunities.

A BURY woman has told of her delight in moving from the bright lights of life near Manchester, to the chaos of the lambing season in Caithness. Former care home manager Angela Pope moved to Lybster six years ago after working for years looking after elderly and physically and mentally ill patients.


A CAITHNESS member of a health group has resigned after claiming the public engagement in a wide-ranging review of local services is "minimal". Former Highland councillor David Flear has stepped down from the Health and Social Care Committee with immediate effect. He was one of two patients and public representatives on the body but said it was dominated by health managers.


QUAD bikes are damaging Castletown beach and other parts of the village according to a local community councillor. Innes Moddie said the machines are being used in areas such as the beach, the heritage trail and Battery Road, often in the evening between 10.30 and 11pm . He has also seen the bikes being used on public roads without registration plates.


DESPITE the disappointment of not making it to the top of Mount Everest, a mountaineer made sure to make the most of his trip. Almost a year ago, Bob Kerr who lives in Portskerra, had to back out of his summit attempt on te world's highest peak after developing sight problems. He still came home with some valuable research, as throughout his stay on the mountain he had been measuring the amount of cosmic radiation that people are typically exposed to.


WICK High School rector Tom McIntyre will resign at the end of this term to take up a job as headmaster of a top international school in Dubai which is spending over £40 million on a new campus. Mr McIntyre has worked in Wick for almost four years and has been involved with the planning of the replacement high school in the town, work on which is getting underway. He said: "The number of international schools they have there is growing by the day - they want to expand and want me to lay down the foundations for that."


LIGHTS, cameras, action!. Film crews travelled the length and breadth of Caithness as six short movies written by local writers were filmed over the weekend. Creative students from North Highland College UHI sat in the director's chair as they watched their written pieces bveing brought to life in front of their eyes. The Seven Roads to the Far North project is designed to give talented storytellers based in Caithness the opportunity to create their own five minutes film.


A WIDENING gap is emerging between the best and worst care for people living with multiple sclerosis in the UK according to the MS Society which says thousands of sufferers are not taking every treatment and many remain in the dark about the drugs that have the potential to alter the conditions devastating progress.