Highland Council plan to submit bids to UK Government funds to improve tourism in the area and support regeneration projects.
The Highlands can submit one transport bid and one bid for each constituency for the Government’s Levelling Up Fund and the Community Renewal Fund.
The council held a meeting on May 13 to agree plans for the bids. If the submissions are successful the council will receive funding that will help improve tourism in the Highlands and a number of regeneration projects.
A transport bid would be submitted for the North Coast 500 route, which would include expanding the electrical vehicle charging points and improving the tourism infrastructure.
The council agreed that Wick should be the main focus for the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency.
It is hoped that works on the Wick Harbour outer seawall will attract further investment to the port. The investment will also be used towards regenerating the town centre and other active travel and environmental projects.
The Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency will focus on Inverness Castle, Northern Meeting Park and Bught Park facilities in their bid.
The three venues are significant for the city and by improving them all it is hoped more visitors will visit.
Finally, the bid for Ross, Skye and Lochaber is being submitted for investment in cultural and heritage assets such as the Nevis Centre and the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre.
Some investment will go into the Portree Harbour and potentially the Corpach Marina to improve transport.
Leader of the Highland Council, Margaret Davidson, said: “These are ambitious and exciting projects and the council is working extremely hard to develop these bids within a very tight timescale.
“I have had very positive discussions with our MPs over the last few days and they have been most supportive, not just over our proposed bids, but also they share our very real concerns over the metrics that the Government used to determine our ranking for these funds.
“I have raised these concerns directly with UK Government ministers and I am hopeful that these concerns have been taken onboard.”