The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Earning island wages – paying London prices
Isolation means high cost of living
Areport into the cost of living in Orkney has found it is as expensive as getting by in central London.
Islanders reported that costly housing, freight charges, fuel and power and food all led to a higher cost of living, comparable to a budget required for central London.
The findings are included in Investigating Household Expenditure in Island Communities, published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Figures detailing the cost of living for an average household nationally were given to officials and islanders, who were asked to identify areas where their costs were higher.
While ONS said that an average individual would have a monthly spend of £79.70 on transport, islanders said petrol and diesel could be up to 10p more a litre, bus fares were significantly higher, flights to Aberdeen were often £300 return, and therefore they felt travel costs were higher.
Saying there were few if any choices in fuel and electricity providers, Orcadians believed they paid more than £72.60 a month on heating, lighting and fuel.
Interviewees felt “supermarket prices seem inflated” and said they spent more than 10% of their annual income on food and soft drinks.
The added cost of getting goods and materials to the island had an impact on every area of life, the report concluded.
It read: “More work is needed to investigate the areas identified in order to quantify the differences.”
The only area where the spend in Orkney was believed to be lower than the national average of £73.50 was on recreation and culture.
Orcadians said they felt there were fewer opportunities and less money to spend on recreation.
Two island communities were studied for the report – Orkney and Scilly.
Author Sarah Harris said the report is the first piece of ONS research measuring household income of families “with addresses north of the Caledonian Canal”.
She wrote: “The cost of living is comparable with London prices, but on island wages.”
Councillor John Ross Scott from Orkney was part of the study, and said: “At last people are starting to take notice of the increased costs of living for those of us who stay on the islands.
“This report will go some way to understanding why we continually struggle to retain our young people and professionals on the islands.
“While there is an islands payment for some essential workers it is nowhere near comparable with London weighting.”
“At last people are starting to take notice”