THE Clearances have been a big feature of my life. For a start, I never stopped hearing about them at school, to the extent that for much of my childhood, if I never heard about them again, it would have been too soon.

There were poems and books and lessons. At every level and in every way, we were schooled about people being burned from their homes and leaving on boats for a new world. It was level pegging with the World Wars which seemed to be the only other historical topics featured in Gaelic Medium Education at the time. I’ve done more literary criticism on depressing poems and written more essays on the wars and the Clearances in Gaelic than I would ever want to.

My own family weren’t cleared in the capital “C” Cleared sense. But they were, on two occasions, left with little choice other than to find new options in Canada. The first time was when my great-great-grandfather Eachann Bàn was left in Tiree, in the care of his aunties, as the insurance policy in case it all went wrong. It did go wrong. His parents died on arrival in Canada.

He remained in Tiree and built the house that I live in today. The second time was when my grandfather was left in Tiree, in the care of his relatives, as the rest of the family headed off to Canada. Another insurance policy. He didn’t see them again either – but he was the reason that the house his grandfather built remained in the family – and that I am here today, working the croft he worked.

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Those two parts of my family might not have been chased with flaming torches. But they were cleared in the sense that it was not economically viable to remain. Life was hard and getting ever harder, and other places looked more promising.

If that sounds familiar to those of you with an interest in the Highlands and Islands, it should. And if it doesn’t, you might want to look at some of the population statistics numbers coming out of those areas in recent times.

New statistics landed this week from the Registers of Scotland, detailing property sales in Scottish island regions. It makes for very grim reading indeed. On the mainland, the percentage of house sales which are cash is 37%. On average, cash sales across the Scottish islands are at 57%. When you drill down into the regional figures for 2023, the numbers are even starker.

In Arran, Bute and Cumbrae, 310 properties changed hands. 75% of those were cash sales. Yes, you read that correctly. Three quarters.

(Image: Newsquest)

Orkney’s outer islands are next at 74% cash sales in 2023, with 66 properties changing hands. Shetland’s outer islands are at 70% cash sales.

And next are the Argyll islands, lumped together in an unhelpful fashion as usual. If only there was a Government-backed island topography that had recently been completed which would show the benefit of breaking data down by island rather than by geographical grouping and which provides a valuable lens through which to interrogate that data. Ah well …

Back to Argyll islands: 121 houses were sold in 2023 and 66% of sales were cash. In the Western Isles, Uist and Barra were next highest. They were counted together at 63% cash with 59 property sales. I could go on, but I think the point is made.

It’s also worth noting that – Arran and its chums aside – the lower the island populations, the higher the percentage of cash sales.

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And this is before we consider prices. Average house prices in the islands have risen 30% in the last five years and the Argyll islands have the second-highest median price. What hope for our young families?

The facts on the ground bear these statistics out. In Tiree, houses over the past few years have often been changing hands for cash – well over the asking price.

I can assure you that the average family in Tiree these days – even with two incomes, supposing they can find adequate childcare – cannot hope to pay cash. And paying over the asking price by up to £100,000 (yes, it happens) with a deposit to find? It’s laughable.

It might be laughable but it is no joke. We need working-age people. Desperately. If the people who will keep our places viable – doing the jobs that need done – are unable to buy these properties, who is?

They fall broadly into three camps, for which I will no doubt be criticised. They are wealthy people for whom the downstream effects matter little and who want to own their bit of “paradise”; reasonably wealthy people wanting to invest in a property they can earn an income from by letting it, and retired folks with nest eggs and a downsizing dream.

Before the comments kick off, I’m fully aware that some people retire at home and some people retire here to be closer to family – whether that’s for childcare or their own care. Some people genuinely think that buying a house for a lot of money and letting it out to tourists is a good thing for the communities they don’t live in – after all, it brings revenue. And to an extent, they are right. The subject is awash with shades of grey, and talking about it – even in long-form – will never cover all the bases.

But talk about it we must.

Simply put, it is not economically viable for many working-age people, without large amounts of money behind them, to build secure lives in the Highlands and Islands. They are being driven out not by military forces as their ancestors might have been, but by market forces.

Holiday lets are undoubtedly one of those forces. In recent years, the Government has been attempting to shut the stable door. Local control zones, which would force homeowners to get planning permission to change their houses into new short-term lets, are one tool at the council’s disposal. Many communities, however, don’t want to risk the almighty fallout that would ensue if the subject was broached. And when they do, it’s not guaranteed to be supported by their council, as shown in Perth last week.

Councillors voted against a Perthshire control area (which would have been only the third in Scotland), saying that more affordable housing should be built instead. Which is all well and good – assuming it is built. But building, as many communities are finding out, is a long and painful process.

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Holiday homes which are bought to serve no other purpose than to provide a holiday destination for their owners a few weeks a year are the second driving force. And there is no control zone legislation for those, more’s the pity. Even now, with the housing crisis well-documented, the market in additional properties remains strong. The rich either don’t read or don’t care. I guess you could argue that the houses changing hands for the better part of a million are out of reach to the unwashed masses anyway, and shouldn’t count, but that argument just serves to enrage us further.

Local communities have little hope of controlling these driving forces, which is why, when many of us talk about housing and crises, and young people and families being priced out, we reference the Clearances. That, in turn, upsets those who understand the Clearances only through the lens of smoke and death. Undoubtedly, fire and death are serious and should not be mocked. But as my own family history shows, that there were different types of clearance.

I have no doubt that in 2024, our islands are facing economic Clearances. We should not be afraid to call them that. These Clearances might not be by fire or because of sheep, but the outcome is the same – fewer people living in our rural places. And the driving forces aren’t that different either. In this version of the story, the economically powerful look at our places as no more than opportunities for them to rest, to hoard wealth and to grow portfolios off the back of landscapes, as opposed to lambs. There is nothing new under the sun.