A route to growth for the North Highlands
This article was first printed in the John O’Groat Journal on 11 September 2026
Charandeep Singh BEM, Chief Executive, Scottish Chambers of Commerce, Trudy Morris, Chief Executive, North Highland Chamber of Commerce
The new dual-route PSO connecting Wick with Glasgow and Aberdeen is a useful reminder of what improved connectivity can unlock for this region.
Cutting hours from a journey changes what is possible for a business. It can mean more time with customers, easier access for investors, and a better chance of attracting staff and visitors to the region.
But connectivity is only one part of the wider environment businesses need if they are to grow. Across our visits last week, we saw the same point play out in different ways.
At Wick Harbour, around £10 million of investment in recent years has helped the port adapt and support new commercial activity, including operations and maintenance for the Beatrice offshore wind farm.
That investment has helped secure the harbour’s future and given local businesses a route into the changing energy economy. As further major projects come forward, we need to see more of that value retained locally.
On our visit to Imenco, we saw specialist technology being developed and manufactured for customers around the world, which reinforced another point employers make regularly: there is no lack of ambition here.
The bigger challenge is making sure people can see a long-term future in the region, with opportunities to progress beyond one job or one project and build a career over many years.
The conversations at 8 Doors Distillery were different again. There, we talked about exports, tariffs and what it takes to grow an ambitious business from John O’Groats.
Nearby, years of work have brought John O’Groats Mill back into use after two decades of closure, creating a heritage attraction and community asset.
And local hotels such as the Norseman and Mackays highlighted the pressures facing the visitor economy more broadly, including higher employer National Insurance contributions and rising employment costs.
Each of our visits were different in detail but all pointed to the same conclusion: businesses are not short of ambition. What they need is a stronger operating environment around them.
That was reinforced again at the North Highland Chamber Annual Dinner. Award-winning businesses like Zumbini by Jade and Creel & Crumb are both examples of people building businesses from the ground up and creating opportunities in their own communities.
The role for government should be to make it easier for more businesses to do the same.
Firms need long-term certainty over vital connections like the Wick-Glasgow PSO, rather than forcing communities to relitigate the same case year after year.
They need governments to take the cumulative cost of employing people seriously, and recognise that workforce retention depends on housing, healthcare, childcare and transport as much as it does on skills policy.
They need better access to international markets, with export support that works for firms growing from remote parts of Scotland.
And as the Scottish Government’s new Major Projects Office begins its work, local economic benefit should be part of the test: stronger supply chains, contracts for local firms and lasting value for the communities hosting major investment.
This is where the Chamber network can add real weight. North Highland Chamber brings the day-to-day experience of businesses across the region, while Scottish Chambers can carry those priorities into national conversations with government and decision-makers.
For all the talk of opportunity, businesses and communities will judge progress by what they can actually see around them.
Across the North Highlands, people are already investing, taking risks, finding new markets and building for the future.
They are not waiting for opportunity to arrive.
They are creating it for themselves.
