Thank you for signing up to The Press and Journal newsletter. Something went wrong - please try again later. Sign Up Highland Council’s budget leader has resigned just weeks prior to the authority meeting to decide its spending for the next financial year. Councillor Alister Mackinnon, also co-founder of Organic Sea Harvest on Skye, has ‘regrettably’ stepped down from the post following refusal for a new fish farm site. Mr Mackinnon was due to oversee the tough financial budget for Highland Council next month, previously stating that the authority faced spending cuts of between £67-£100million, with a predicted Covid impact of £11m.