VISITOR LEVY SCHEME

Community Council Representatives and members of the public are invited to a webinar on Tuesday 14 Januaryfrom 7-8:30pm which will outline Highland Council’s proposed Visitor Levy Scheme, currently undergoing public consultation until 31st March 2025 www.highland.gov.uk/vlconsultation

The webinar is open to all interested parties and to register a place, please click here

Further info can be found at www.highland.gov.uk/visitorlevyconsultation

Kind regards

HIGHLAND COUNCIL BUDGET 2025 – 2026

Between November 2023 and February 2024, the Council undertook a widespread engagement exercise to help inform its budget for the next three years.

Over 3,500 separate responses were received from the public over this period which helped shape the budget savings and income generation ideas that the Council then agreed to.

At its meeting in February 2024, the Council agreed a £54.6m package of savings over 3 years. This included a range of savings that focused on redesigning services, changing how we use and manage our properties, delivering efficiencies and on generating income. As a result of increasing costs and inflation, we expect our budget to continue to decrease further therefore it is important that we continue to plan over the next three years.

It is important that our budget continues to be informed by the ideas and suggestions from our communities and our staff. The ideas we received last year have been put into action, but we know that there continue to be other areas for improvement and how we could generate income.

We want to share with you what you told us last year and what we are doing but want to hear what further ideas you have.

Further information is available in both our Budget Challenge Leaflet, attached, and also at:https://www.highland.gov.uk/budget

People can provide feedback through our online Engagement Platform where there is both an online survey and an ideas board www.bit.ly/budget-survey2025-26

A paper-based response form is also available in service points and libraries.

We are keen to hear your views. The closing date for feedback is January 20th, 2025.