HIE staff boost

THREE new posts are being created at the Shetland area office of Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The news came as HIE board members visited Shetland on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet local industry representatives.

Chief executive Alex Paterson said the agency recognised that the local office, based at Lerwick’s Solarhus, had been under resourced.

Area manager Rachel Hunter said the move would mean staffing numbers would again be on a par with neighbouring Orkney at 8.1 full time equivalents.

The office has an annual budget of £650,000, but has access to additional funding from head office for larger projects.

Board members toured the isles on Tuesday to scrutinise some of the biggest investments such as Mareel, Ocean Kinetics and Hjaltland Seafarms’ new hatchery at Girlsta.

They also met with around 25 business leaders for dinner on Tuesday evening.