Pipers have won a battle to play at Highland funerals after a row with the council about requiring written permission.
There had been outrage over a draft rule, prior to a public consultation, that suggested bereaved families would need authorisation from Highland council.
Roddy Balfour, a councillor and former piper, branded it a “petty and ridiculous” proposal which made the local authority look foolish.
The proposal has now been scrapped in the new burial and crematorium management rules which will come into force next month, and remain in place for the next decade.
Margaret Paterson, a councillor in Dingwall, said she had never had so many letters from pipers about the issue. “It went all over Scotland that we were talking about stopping the pipes