Should The Highland Council Be Divided?
Garve and District Community Council
Added at 16:19 on 24 October 2025
Debate is stirring once again across the Highlands: should The Highland Council – the largest local authority area in the UK – be divided into two smaller units?
On the surface, smaller can seem better. Local governance advocates argue that breaking up the Council could bring decision-making closer to communities, allowing residents to shape local priorities directly. It’s an attractive idea, especially for those who feel distant from Inverness and frustrated by perceived centralisation. Yet, beneath that surface lies a more complex reality.
The truth is that size, when well-managed, can be a strength. A larger authority has the scale, ambition and resources to deliver major investment programmes that smaller councils could never afford. And right now, the Highland Council is doing just that.
The Highland Investment Plan: Delivering Long-Term Progress
The Highland Investment Plan (HIP) is one of the most ambitious programmes of public investment ever undertaken in the region. With £2.1 billion of capital funding committed over 20 years, the Plan represents a sustained commitment to modernising the area’s infrastructure – not just in cities, but across rural and island communities.
Already, progress is visible. The HIP’s first phase allocates £761 million between 2025 and 2030, targeting the very issues Highland communities have long called for action on – roads, schools, housing, health facilities, and community hubs.
From new community Points of Delivery (PODs) in towns such as Thurso, Dingwall and Beauly, to the refurbishment of the Inverness High School campus and investment in sports, leisure and community facilities across the region, this is a plan that reaches into every part of the Highlands. These projects are not just about new buildings – they are part of a shift towards an integrated, place-based model of service delivery, ensuring communities large and small benefit.
Splitting the Council would not just risk slowing that momentum; it would dismantle the very framework enabling it.
Why Division Risks Derailing Progress
The Highland Investment Plan is built on collective financial strength. The Council’s ability to ringfence 2% of annual Council Tax revenues to capitalise future projects relies on being a single, large-scale authority with a stable income base and borrowing power.
If the Council were to be divided, each new authority would need to renegotiate borrowing terms, reassess priorities, and re-establish delivery partnerships. Major initiatives – such as the Construction Skills Academy, designed to tackle regional workforce shortages, or the Community Benefits Plan, which ensures investment supports local jobs and community projects – could lose coordination and funding.
Equally important are partnerships like hub North Scotland Ltd, which are delivering the first wave of new schools and community facilities. These rely on consistent, long-term procurement and project management across the region. A fractured Council would risk duplicating effort, diluting expertise, and jeopardising investment confidence.
Simply put, division could unravel two years of planning and years of future delivery.
Addressing Feelings of Disconnection
Those who feel disenfranchised from Highland Council are not without cause. The area it covers is vast – stretching from Caithness to Lochaber and from Skye to Nairn. It is inevitable that some communities feel remote from Inverness. But the Highland Investment Plan is designed precisely to change that.
Through place-based masterplanning, the Council is devolving decision-making within ten operational areas. Local stakeholders – including NHS Highland, High Life Highland, local Chambers of Commerce, voluntary groups and schools – are now directly engaged in shaping new developments. In Thurso, for instance, the Thurso Transformation Delivery Group brings together community representatives to oversee redevelopment and ensure local priorities drive outcomes.
This decentralised model within a single strong council combines the best of both worlds: local empowerment backed by regional strength.
A United Council with a Shared Vision
The Council’s leadership has been clear – division would weaken Highland’s voice at both national and regional levels. A united authority has the influence to secure funding, coordinate housing and infrastructure, and deliver projects that address shared challenges such as depopulation, skills shortages and ageing infrastructure.
The HIP’s focus on community wealth building and fair work ensures that local people and businesses benefit directly from this investment. The creation of a Construction Skills Academy and the “My Highland Future” programme are examples of a joined-up approach that links education, skills, and economic opportunity – an approach that depends on collaboration across the whole region.
The Real Question
So, should The Highland Council be divided?
If we value local input, we must continue devolving decision-making. But if we value progress – sustained investment, modern schools, new care facilities, better roads, and strong regional partnerships – then unity is essential.
A smaller council might bring the illusion of closeness, but at the cost of capacity. A larger, integrated Highland Council can deliver transformative projects across all its communities, ensuring no place is left behind.
Rather than divide, the real challenge is to reconnect: to strengthen local engagement while maintaining the collective power needed to deliver a £2.1 billion investment programme.
The Highland Council does not need to be broken up to serve its people better – would it not it deliver for the people by staying united, focused, and accountable to every corner of the Highlands.
That is the question for the people of the Highlands.
Progress on what has been achieved as part of the Highland Investment Plan so far.