APPENDIX 4

Highlands and Islands Conveners’ Group

Councillor Pat Watters Chief Executive’s Service President The Highland Council Glenurquhart Road Convention of Scottish Local Authorities Inverness IV3 5NX Verity House 19 Haymarket Yards Please ask for: Kate Lackie Edinburgh Tel: (01463) 702041 e-mail [email protected]

EH12 5BH Date 1 May, 2012

Dear Pat

At a meeting of the Highlands and Islands European Partnership (HIEP) Board on Monday 2 April, it was agreed that we should write to set out our formal position with regard to the Government’s proposal for a Single Plan for the delivery of European Funds across Scotland from 2014-20.

The Board's unanimous and strongly held view is that there should be a separate Highlands and Islands Plan in order to protect the specific development opportunities of the area. HIEP take the view that there are significant challenges in the Highlands and Islands which require special consideration, and a special approach. These include:

• Critical structural differences between the economies of the Highlands and Islands and the rest of Scotland; • Serious fragility of the Island economies in particular, when compared against Scottish, UK and EU performance; • A need for continued investment in relation to weak connectivity infrastructure; • On-going challenges of remoteness, deep-rurality and super-sparsity of population; and • On-going challenges of depopulation, demographic profile and population drift."

Should the move to a single Scotland Plan prevail, then the HIEP is seeking assurances that the special needs of the region will be fully recognised - particularly that recognition be given to the Region’s likely transition status and the funding that is attached to this. To this end, we would like to be a key partner in the development of any Scottish Plan to ensure the delivery of local priorities and for regional representatives to be involved in the work of the proposed Thematic Groups that will be established to assist develop any single Scottish Plan. The Board also wishes to be involved in the submission of proposals to the COSLA Brussels Office for the use of EU Funds to deliver local priorities and looks forward to taking part in the second key stakeholders meeting to discuss the Scottish Plan.

We would be grateful for an early response to these points and we would be happy for the Board Secretariat to discuss this further with COSLA officers in order to progress as a priority.

Yours sincerely

Michael Foxley Leader

Members are: Argyll & Bute Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, The Highland Council, The Moray Council, North Ayrshire Council, Orkney Islands Council, Shetland Islands Council.