A list of 20 substantial projects drawn up by Highland communities will be presented to the Scottish Government for consideration for a regeneration grant funding pot of up to £25m.
The projects, ranging from £50,000 by the council for Invergordon Cruise Management to £4.3m for Ionad Thronddairnis, the Gaelic centre in Trotternish, will compete nationally for a slice of the fund, designed to support large-scale improvements to help regenerate struggling areas.
Some councillors said they would have preferred to see more detail on the bids before agreeing to their submission to the Scottish Government.
Councillor Ken Gowans said he was aware that they were time-critical, and more time should be sought from the Scottish Government to work on them.
He said: “Clearly some of these projects are going to need more time because priorities have changed.
“I have no idea about the list of projects, whether they are good, bad or indifferent because I don’t know enough about them, there’s no business case presented for them, it’s the first time I’ve heard of a lot of them.
“I would rather defer them for more information.”
Infrastructure and enviornment boss Malcom Macleod said he appreciated there had not been a lot of scrutiny of the bids, but it was a community-led grant fund, administered by the council.
He said: “It’s unlikely that all the schemes will be successful but in the current economic circumstances it was important to put the bids in.
“In a previous round there were 100 bids for £25m, we put in 14, five went to stage two nationally and we got three out of the five.
“We’re in exceptional times and if we’re looking for projects for investment, then this must surely form part of the overall pie.
“That’s why we decided to put them in rather than try and narrow them down, and hopefully we can appeal for as much funding as possible.”
Councillor Jimmy Gray said he worked on a basis of trusting officials’ recommendations.
He said: “You need a reason not to support something. I’m happy to support these applications.”