MINISTER VISITS UIST AMID DEPOPULATION AND HOUSING CONCERNS
SIÂN SWINTON
Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees, Emma Roddick, visited Uist in October prior to the release of the new Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan and her own constituent engagement survey.
Kareen MacRury, Uist Settlement Officer, organised a short programme of meetings for the minister including discussing her own work in helping people to move to the islands.
The housing theme carried over to a visit to the Tagsa Uibhist Community Gardens to discuss the recent Our Right to Food report as well as other population related concerns from Tagsa. Tagsa Uibhist CEO, Chris MacLullich, said: “We spoke about the usual challenges: housing, workforce, etc. She also said that there is a fund to convert unused housing to create new housing but this is for local authorities and there doesn’t seem to be any housing stock available for this here.”
Ms Roddick said: “The lack of affordable housing is a key factor driving depopulation. Public services and local businesses are being impacted due to a lack of staff, young people are moving out of their hometowns and taking jobs elsewhere, and ageing populations left behind are struggling to find care and support locally.”
The 2022 Scotland Census shows a 5.6% decrease in population from the previous census in 2011, the biggest percentage decrease in Scotland, and a 2020 report from the Highlands and Islands convention predicts a population loss of 14% between 2016 and 2041.
On 13 October, Housing Minister Paul MacLennan released the new Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan, which sets out how the remote, rural and islands communities of Scotland could benefit from the ScotGov Housing to 2040 plan. The plan sets out to build 110,000 homes across Scotland by 2032 with 10% in remote, rural and island communities.
The scheme takes its definition of ‘remote, rural and island communities’ from Scottish Government’s Urban Rural Classification 2020 guidelines, which describes ‘remote’ as those areas more than a 30 minute drive time of a settlement with a population of 10,000 or more.
Ms Roddick welcomed the plan saying: “The sustainability of our rural and island communities is vital to Scotland’s future, but we are currently seeing significant depopulation and rising house prices in many of these areas. That is why this action plan is so important for sustaining these communities. Providing affordable housing will help protect our rural and island communities, letting people stay where they want to live and continue to thrive.”
There is also a plan to introduce legislation enabling councils to charge a 100% premium on council tax for second homes. In Uist, 169 homes were registered as ‘secondary letting’ under the new Short Term Let regulation.
In the meeting with the minister, Ms MacRury set out the work being delivered under the Uist Repopulation Zone Action Plan, which included liaising with the Uist and Barra Housing Group project and Rural Housing Scotland to address housing concerns. This work will now be taken forward by Christina Morrison, who has taken on the role of Settlement Officer.
