I’M not quite sure what to make of the Scottish Government’s latest cunning plan to re-populate Scotland’s islands (Islands in line for £50k bones to tackle population decline, Aug 2). It seems that a fund of £5,000,000 is to be made available to be split between 100 lucky applicants.
The government has opened a consultation on the idea. I looked at the website but all it says, in essence, is “we have £5,000,000 to hand out – what do you think we should do with it?” The scheme sounds similar to the government’s first-time house buyer scheme, which ran out of money in around a week and simply inflated house prices and the profits of the large house-building companies.
READ MORE: Islanders in line for £50k bonds to help tackle population decline
Having spoken to friends both on and off the islands, we all wonder what real difference this fund will make. It will not solve the problems of access to affordable land and housing, poor connectivity and expensive travel costs. If I was 40 years younger, would the chance of this money persuade me to up sticks and move to an island, start a business, build or buy a house or find a decent, well-paid job? I doubt it. Would handing over £50,000 to someone to enable them pay over the asking price for an existing house on the islands in order to open a bed and breakfast be a worthwhile use of this cash?
Building plots seems to cost in the region of £100,000 in the Highlands and islands, and add to that the cost of actually building a house. There are millions of acres of land owned by the rich and sometimes famous which could be sold at reasonable prices if the political will existed. It is called land reform, and along with changes to tax and rating systems could be used to encourage these folk to part with land for affordable housing.
This £5,000,000 is a poor attempt to draw attention away from the real radical solutions needed to solve the depopulation of the Highlands and islands. I suspect a far better business case could be made to spend this money on improvements to island ferry services.
Glenda Burns
Glasgow
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