Gaelic epithet for new Skye housing project

The first affordable housing to be built in a Skye community for 22 years could be named after a popular fishing spot.

Staffin’s housing, health and business project is expected to be completed by autumn, with James MacQueen Building Contactors Limited having been on site since last July.

Older members of the Stenscholl township, which supported the development by selling common grazing ground to Staffin Community Trust (SCT), have chosen Taighean a’ Chaiseil (Houses of the Weir) as their preferred name.

The new houses will overlook the caiseal, or fishing weir, in the Kilmartin River. The suggestion has been submitted to Highland Council for approval.

SCT has worked with the Communities Housing Trust (CHT) and Lochalsh and Skye

The site of the new housing, health and business project in Staffin.

Housing Association (LSHA) since 2014 to provide housing for families and young people priced out of the island’s property market. Each organisation is building two houses, which will be a mix of affordable rent and discounted sales, with different allocation policies.

SCT director Donald MacDonald said: ‘This project, which has taken many years of hard work, is intended to be a step towards reversing the decline in population which we saw in the past and to sustain the local school and services.

‘Communities, such as Staffin, need to make homes available for young families and to retain people, particuStaffin