Development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) have been accused of becoming “distant and remote” to small businesses in the north.
Hamish Fraser, chairman of Highland Council’s Skye, Ross and Cromarty area committee said that HIE had “lost focus” when dealing with smaller businesses, choosing instead to focus on “blue chip industries”.
Other members of the committee said that the agency had put too much focus on major developments such as Nigg fabrication yard, at the expense of smaller businesses and high street developments.
The committee were given a presentation yesterday by HIE bosses outlining the economic state of the Skye, Ross and Cromarty area.
Robert Muir, HIE area manager for Skye, Lochaber and Wester Ross said that the majority of businesses the agency has worked with are smaller operations.
He added: “It’s not about the scale of a business for us, it’s about the ambition of a business.
“There’s no reason that a small start up with only one or two employees cannot be supported if they have ambition.”
However, a number of committee members raised concern about support offered by HIE, with Tain and Easter Ross member Councillor Alasdair Rhind saying his ward had received little support.
He said: “I don’t think that in Tain we’ve had very much in the way of dealings with HIE in recent years.
“They seem quite a distant and remote organisation to me.
“Tain is a fragile area. It may not be classed as one using Department of Work and Pensions figures but asked businesses in the High Street or the B&Bs and they will tell you how hard it is.”
Councillor Maxine Smith, Cromarty Firth, echoed his sentiments, saying: “I would like to see more attention paid to smaller businesses instead of focussing things like Nigg.
“A lot of our high streets face real challenges, places like Invergordon and Tain are examples.”
Mr Muir said that focusing on creating jobs was a way of supporting high street services.
He said: “The way I look at it, HIE’s focus is on jobs and creating more long term jobs.
“If jobs are in an area then services will follow.
“If you can put jobs in place then you will have more people bringing in earnings with disposable income then that will be good for shops.”