Councils urged to plan an island quality of life
ISLAND life – with low crime, good community spirit and a pleasant environment – is closest to what most Scots want for themselves and their families, according to new measures of wellbeing calculated by a leading charity.
Oxfam has ranked Scotland’s local councils according to a new Humankind Index, which it argues is a better measure of success than purely economic figures such as GDP.
Under this measure, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are the best places to live, while North Lanarkshire, Glasgow and East Ayrshire rank worst.
The charity is now urging councils to prioritise more than simply economic success when setting policy.
Judith Robertson, head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “The Humankind Index for Scotland is different from traditional economic measures because it is based on people’s real priorities. Things like community spirit and a safe environment are simply not measured by GDP.”
The index was developed with the New Economics foundation based on interviews with nearly 3000 people all over the country.
Now t he Fraser of Allander Institute has used public data to judge how well different councils are meeting those priorities.
The research found 93% of people in Shetland said they had a good community spirit, with 92% in Orkney and 88% in the Western Isles saying the same.
While on average 59% of people across Scotland said they lived in a pleasant environment, in Shetland it was 82%, in the Western Isles 79% and Orkney 70%.
Dr Katherine Trebeck, research and policy adviser for Oxfam Scotland, said: “New councillors are meeting to discuss the way forward for their communities. Oxfam believes that if they use the Humankind Index as a blueprint, they could make big improvements in the prosperity of the people they represent.”