Sutherland Partnership Meetings

Documents on this Page.    Below are links to the minutes of the various Sutherland Partnership forums.   Some of these ARE IN DRAFT AND AS YET UNAPPROVED, but are placed here for information and in order to ensure that this page's content is as up-to-date as possible.

Sutherland Summit.    On 14 September 2009 we held a momentous event - the Sutherland Summit.  This major event, which attracted nearly 200 delegates, was attended by Scottish Government Ministers Jim Mather and Roseanna Cunningham, by MP John Thurso, by Constituency MSP Jamie Stone and other MSPs, and by a wide range of other "movers and shakers" from Sutherland and beyond.  Mr Mather's "mind-mapping" session was particularly valuable, and was followed by a series of "break-out" workshops in the afternoon.  Our consultants, "Rural Analysis Associates" did a fine job in producing a report of the Summit, which you can read by clicking here.  The Summit was also followed up by a series of wide-ranging workshops held across the county in December.  The final workshop of the series will be an all-day event, which is now scheduled for 25 January, in Lairg Community Centre.  Further details will be promulgated in due course.

Now that all the lessons have been learned from the Summit and its follow-up workshops, RAA have written, and Sutherland Partnership will shortly publish, the new Development and Action Plan for Sutherland, which will replace the Sutherland Partnership Strategy Document 2005-9.  We expect that this new Action and Development Plan will give clear direction to the Sutherland Partnership for the next five years.

Annual General Meeting.    The Sutherland Partnership, a not-for-profit company, gives an annual account of its activities.  The annual report is considered at each year's Annual General Meeting.  Our 2009 AGM took place on Wednesday 1 July, in Lairg Community Centre.  Our speaker was Chief Inspector Andy Brown, Northern Constabulary Area Commander for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

You can read the 2009 annual report here.  The 2010 AGM will take place slightly later this year, in early September.  Further details of date, time and place will be published here shortly.

Sutherland Partnership Board.    The Sutherland Partnership Board, like most Sutherland Partnership forums, meets quarterly.  To read the approved minutes of the meeting of 15 February 2010 click here. 

Sutherland Partnership Biodiversity Group.  This group's aim is to advance the cause of biodiversity in Sutherland, by discussing matters of environmental interest, by participating in the Highland Biodiversity Partnership, and by facilitating community participation in environmental projects.  To read the Biodiversity Group's most recent  minutes, as yet UNAPPROVED, click here.

Other Sutherland Partnership Forums.    Other Sutherland Partnership forums - the Community Development Forum, Tourism Forum and Transport Group - are currently in abeyance.  They, or successor groups, may be initiated after the guidance of the new Development and Action Plan has been received and digested.