Highland Council has agreed new multi-member operational management areas, due to come into force next May. Boundaries have been laid out for three new areas, which take account of the creation of 22 new multi-member wards being created from the council elections. They will replace Highland's existing 14 four-member and eight three-member wards, and are being created for those services best delivered strategically. The areas are: North Highland (Caithness, Sutherland, Tain, Cromarty Firth – which includes Alness, Invergordon and Evanton and Easter Ross); Mid and West Highland (Skye, Lochaber, Wester and Mid Ross and Black Isle) and East Highland (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey). Council services will reorganise their management arrangements to reflect these new area boundaries. Proposals for the management and staffing arrangements of each service will be submitted to the relevant strategic committees in the cycle leading up to the council meeting on 14 December.
