The Highlands are shut – keep away, say locals
RESIDENTS of remote communities yesterday issued an urgent plea to fellow Britons: Do not come to the Highlands.
With the backing of Ministers – including Finance Secretary Kate Forbes – islanders and villagers warned that an influx of visitors could put the health of local communities at risk.
They fear a rise in ‘Covid-19 tourists’ trying to escape the spread of coronavirus will put too much strain on already scarce medical resources.
They urged campervan and second home owners not to travel north, warning that the incomers could bring the virus with them. Ms Forbes, MSP for Skye and Lochaber, posted on Twitter: ‘If you live elsewhere, please don’t use the Highlands as your means of self-isolation.
‘People live here who are trying to follow Government guidance and the continuing flow of campervans and other traffic who appear to be escaping the cities is not helping.’
It came as pictures emerged of campervans loaded up on a ferry bound for Harris, in the Outer Hebrides.
One local tweeted: ‘We need [Transport Secretary] Michael Matheson to make the ferries freight only immediately and sort out details afterwards.
‘We can’t just drive to another town or hospital. It’s what we have or nothing.’ Last night. Tourism Secretary Fergus Ewing said he was ‘furious at the reckless and irresponsible behaviour of some people’.
He added: ‘People should not be travelling to rural and island communities – they are endangering lives.
‘We’ve been in touch with CalMac and industry leaders to discuss what measures may be required to deal with this.’
Meanwhile, Ian Blackford, Nationalist MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, told how around 30 campervans had been turned away yesterday from around the Nevis Range near Fort William, Inverness-shire.
He said people had travelled from various parts of the UK to use the area as a ‘refuge’.
Calling such holidaymakers ‘irresponsible’, he tweeted: ‘Follow the Government’s advice and please do not travel here.
‘If these warnings are not heeded and people need to be stopped from travelling, that is what will have to happen.’
Yesterday, Ardtornish Estate, in Lochaline, Lochaber, which has holiday cottages, closed ‘to protect our community’, while Sango Sands Oasis campsite in Durness, Sutherland, posted on Facebook: ‘We are blocking up the entrance. We have elderly and vulnerable in our village and want to keep them safe.’
Last night, Assynt Community Council in Sutherland asked all providers of holiday lets to ‘seriously consider’ closing.
A Facebook post added: ‘The Government made it clear non-essential travel should be avoided. Providing accommodation increases the risk to residents of Assynt.’
Residents on Barra and Vatersay in the Outer Hebrides – home to around 1,100 people – said the isles were ‘closed’.
A community Twitter account posted: ‘Don’t travel here. Don’t put unnecessary strain on our limited resources.’
Angus MacNeil, the Nationalist MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, posted a picture of Barra’s Castlebay village hall, which medics have made ready for an outbreak. He wrote: ‘No ventilators, not much oxygen, no testing. Islands could be badly hit. Don’t come on holiday, please.’
‘Reckless and irresponsible’
‘Don’t come on holiday, please’