The Sunday Post (Inverness)

A gathering storm: How our islands could build back better

Experts say future needs investment not gimmicks

- By Tracey Bryce trbryce@sundaypost.com

The lure of rural life on one of Scotland’s 90 islands became even more attractive as the country locked down.

However, a reported surge in interest from middle-aged mainlander­s is fuelling soaring property prices on the islands and making it even harder for young people to find a home.

As islanders fear a future of dwindling, older population­s, the Scottish Government last week announced it would pay young people and families £50,000 to relocate, promising to spend £5 million over the coming years.the scheme has failed to impress islanders, however, who say more practical investment is needed to encourage more people to live and work there.

Iain Stephen Morrison, editor of Western Isles news and informatio­n service Am Pàipear, has lived on Uist pretty much all his life and says the Government money would be better spent improving life on the islands for existing residents and new ones, too.

“The answer to our problem isn’t so much incentive as creating opportunit­y,” said Morrison. “We have fantastic incentives. It’s beautiful, safe, great schools, a caring community.

“These are the reasons people want to live here, especially if they have moved away to study and come back to live and start having families themselves and want them to have the same great upbringing they had.

“But there are challenges and we need support to help with the challenges. Housing is a huge one, as is jobs. The internet signal is patchy, the phone signal is patchy, the transport system is breaking down…we need to look at all of that.”

Morrison said improving infrastruc­ture and transport, creating jobs and making more land available for affordable housing should be the priorities.

“The number of visitors in recent years has grown considerab­ly and people on the islands have responded with new campsites and homes becoming holiday rentals and Airbnbs,” he said. “But there is a huge housing crisis and challenges getting on to the property ladder. With so many holiday homes, there are very few long-term rentals and property prices are going up year on year.

“With the onset of the pandemic, there is much fiercer competitio­n when properties come on to the market. Families from here looking to bid on a house are being blown out by people on the mainland snapping them up.”

Andrena Duffin, secretary of Mull Community Council, added: “One of the pressing problems is the amount of short-term holiday lets. In one area in the south of the island 70% of the houses are now holiday cottages.”

Jim Hunter, senior researcher and emeritus professor of history at the University of the Highlands and Islands, says affordable housing needs to be made a priority – because there is little point in encouragin­g families to the isles if they can’t find a home.

“The fundamenta­l issue is the growing impossibil­ity for people on modest incomes to have any hope of buying a house on the islands,” said Hunter, a former chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise. “And it’s not just confined to the islands, it’s anywhere rural all across the country. The house prices and land prices are astronomic­al and it has worsened in the last year with property prices sky-rocketing. And it’s nothing to do with the economy, it’s to do with people buying second homes or holiday homes.

“It’s all contributi­ng to the fact that young people can’t live here even if they want to. Surveys have shown young people either in the Highlands and islands now want to continue living here and others elsewhere wish to live their lives in places like these.

“I grew up in the north part of Argyll in the ’50s and ’60s and at that time the people in my generation just took it for granted that moving away to the bright lights of the city was something that would happen. That’s changing now as young people want to live and work in these localities, possibly because there is a heightened awareness of the natural environmen­t.”

Hunter said that in the past the focus was on creating jobs to attract people. But now remote working has become commonplac­e, it’s housing rather than employment which is the stumbling block.

“The sort of people attracted to living on the isles are tech-savvy people in their 20s and 30s, but we will never get them here because they can’t afford a home to live in,” said Hunter.

“What we need is the injection of huge amounts of money because the building costs are high and the land acquisitio­n costs are high.

“What we really need is a commitment to tackling the difficulti­es the islands face. Things like better transport links and superfast broadband in all the localities, things we just don’t have now.”

Morrison said salaries and transport links were also big issues: “On many of the islands, and here on Uist, we have low wages, lower than the Scottish average. And transporta­tion can mean a big block for businesses. There’s an issue with ferries. The Calmac fleet as a whole is old vessels that are prone to breakdowns and leads to restricted services. This has a knock-on effect on

businesses who need the ferries to bring materials or to get products off the island.

“Capacity on the ferries has also been restricted because of social distancing and, with so many visitors, people here can find services are booked out for weeks at a time.

“Life here is great and I wouldn’t live anywhere else – but it could be better all round with a bit of investment.

“Offering people £50k to relocate is a novice idea. Giving people bungs to move their lives here isn’t going to solve the problem.”

Iain Macneil, councillor for Barra, Vatersay, Eriskay and South Uist, agrees. “In many ways the bond looks like a gimmick to attract those who are after the good life,” he said. “The realities of island living and the reasons behind depopulati­on aren’t addressed and a lump sum of money for 100 people is hardly going to make a dent in what’s needed. In the health and social care sector alone we need over 100 people in the Western Isles to fill vacancies.”

Macneil said the Scottish Government must rethink its policies: “Decisions being made by our government are actively contributi­ng to depopulati­on.

“The £5m would be better used to safeguard jobs and introduce new jobs in agencies that have a big presence in our islands but provide relatively few well-paid jobs. Digital broadband rollout has stalled – that needs to be sorted.”

Macneil also agreed housing was one of the biggest issues: “Self-build and being able to afford property in the current climate is difficult yet it is vital to the future of the islands to have housing that meets people’s needs.

“The Uist and Barra Housing Group was formed to help address that aspect, helping the local community take housing into their own hands and work towards solving that part of the puzzle. But the way housing money allocated to the local authority is allowed to be spent restricts and hinders solutions put forward by islanders.

“If the government wants to encourage more people to live in the islands then it must listen to those of us who live here when we offer solutions.”

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Darkening sky looms over a house in Broadford, Isle of Skye
Darkening sky looms over a house in Broadford, Isle of Skye

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom