Sail away...

The draft winter timetables have (finally) been released for the Lochboisdale-Castlebay-Oban and Lochboisdale-Mallaig ferry sailings, and all things considered they are not too bad.

There will be five sailings a week between Lochboisdale and Oban, and vice versa, all stopping in at Castlebay. It is not exactly ideal but we are quite used to the seven hour+ journey, especially in winter. 

All of the sailings leaving Lochboisdale involve an early start - on the last draft I saw there were two 6am sailings and three 7am sailings. If you are getting the bus or the train then it entails arriving in Oban at 1 or 2 o'clock and facing a 4 or 5 hour wait. A long wait in Oban can be a pretty miserable prospect in winter. After getting a chippie, wandering around Tesco for a bit, and maybe going to Pets at Home to look at the fish there is not much left to do. 

The waiting times in Mallaig will be much shorter. At the consultations held this week the need for the sailings to connect with public transport was mentioned and luckily it was taken on board. The draft timetables show two return journeys on a Tuesday and again on a Saturday, with the Lord of the Isles leaving Lochboisdale at 6am and again at 2pm. The wait between the ferry arriving in Mallaig and the train leaving for Fort William will be 45 or 55 minutes. Perfect.

Now for Calmac to finalise everything and get it updated on the website so that we can actually book something!

Don't tell me our youth is running out

It is pretty widely acknowledged that we have an issue with getting young people to stay, or to come back after they have finished university. The 2011 Census results show that between 2001 and 2011 there was a 6.6% drop in the number of people aged 15-39 in the Outer Hebrides. This is fuelled by a tendency for young people and not come back (apart from for occasional holidays).

And what is the main factor that encourages young people to leave (and not come back)? Jobs.

At the end of August during “Make Young People Your Business Week”, the Leader of the Comhairle wrote a blog post asserting the Comhairle commitment to helping young people into work, and hailing the numbers of participants on the Employability Fund, and working through Modern Apprenticeships and through the Youth Employment Scotland Fund. While these schemes undoubtedly provide valuable opportunities, particularly to school leavers, I feel that more needs to be done to attract graduates back to the islands.

Part of the problem is that many schemes available are aimed at “young people” and somebody, somewhere decided that young people are those aged 16-24. (And that makes me, rather depressingly, not young). But why is 16-24 used for most schemes in the Outer Hebrides when we have an ageing population and a clear need for more young people to stay or return? (One big exception is Princes’ Scottish Youth Business Trust which has recognised that the Outer Hebrides has different needs and has extended the support they provide to include people up to age 30).

Of course there are some schemes aimed at graduates. Adopt an Intern ran a successful Highlands and Islands programme over the last year and the ScotGrad programme (through HIE) provides summer and graduates placements across the Highlands and Islands (although grad placements can only be applied for within one year of graduating). These schemes, and others similar to them, are used pretty effectively by Third Sector organisations and SMEs. However, the Comhairle seems to fall short. They did offer several internships over the summer but they were all short-term and based in Lewis. They need to do more to attract young people back to the islands, and providing more opportunities for graduates, right across the Outer Hebrides, would be a great start.

So what else can be done? Well, lots really, but I will discuss that another day. It is getting late and I need to go and put on some anti-wrinkle cream and try to convince myself that 26 is still young.

We are sailing...

Calmac have been in town recently consulting with community representatives on the new Lochboisdale - Mallaig winter ferry service and the Lochboisdale – Oban winter timetable. 

A press release was issued stating that a meeting was held with a local councillor, fishermen, the Outer Hebrides Commerce Group (OHCG), Storas Uibhist, and Lochboisdale Community Councillors. Many of those mentioned have spent years campaigning for the introduction of a Lochboisdale-Mallaig service and should be commended for their hard work and perseverance. I am confused, however, by the mention of Lochboisdale Community Councillors (LCC). 

There are no contact details for LCC on the council website and the last minutes or mention I have seen from them is from May 2012. The other community councils all feature on the CnES website and there are details of upcoming elections and previous results. So why have LCC been included and who are the Lochboisdale Community Councillors who were present at the meeting?

If the LCC is up and running again then it would be great to hear about it and find out who is involved and what they are doing for the community. It would also be interesting to know when they plan to hold their next election.

Moving on to the proposed timetables and things are sounding pretty good. Although I have never really been a fan of getting up for a 6am departure, it does mean that the service will coincide with public transport to and from Mallaig and you can be in Inverness for lunch (or Glasgow for a late lunch). The return leg is proposed to leave Mallaig at 6pm, which will also link up with public transport, and opens up the opportunity to go to Fort William for the day and be home in your own bed that night. (Why go to Fort William for a day I hear you ask? They have a MacDonald’s, a Morrisons, a Boots, and a WH Smith – it is the Buchanan Galleries to our Savoy Centre).

Calmac has also proposed an additional sailing from Lochboisdale and Castlebay to Oban, bringing it up to five sailings a week. If they could just link it up with public transport in Oban and expand the LB-Mallaig service to the summer (and add some more sailings) then everything would be just perfect.

Games, puddings, and insulation

It will just be a short post today as I have been majorly distracted by GTA V, Spelunky (or The Wee Man Game as it is known in our house), a vat of rice pudding made by my boyfriend, and The Great British Bake Off. 

It was announced today that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Tighean Innse Gall have secured up to £3.5 million funding to deliver energy efficiency measures for private home in the Western Isles. The scheme will initially target homes with electric or solid fuel heating that require external wall insulation.

I was delighted to read this and we will be phoning our landlords tomorrow to beg them to sign up. Our current abode has no insulation, single glazed windows, draughty doors, and the radiators are heated by the back boiler, which is heated by the fire. We don’t even have radiators upstairs! And as anybody who has ever lived or worked with me will know, I am always cold, even when everyone else is warm. In this house everyone else feels the cold and I have to wear a dressing gown over my clothes and wrap myself in a blanket.

Hebridean Housing Partnership has been upgrading the houses they own so that they meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015. At the end of last year the houses HHP owns on our street got air source heat pump systems, including new boilers and radiators (even upstairs), and this year they got cavity wall insulation for the external walls. They are nice and warm now. 

I have two hot water bottles though so I am sure I can cope.

A bit of an introduction

I suppose I really should write a proper introduction to my blog. I know it would be traditional to do this for the first post but I got a bit side tracked so here goes…

I was born and raised in South Uist before moving to Glasgow for uni. I spent seven years away, living in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and the USA, and always swore I would never move home. Having been a bit miserable before leaving, moving day could not come soon enough. I loved being a student most of the time, especially after my first year when I switched to a course that I actually liked and moved out of the poky flat in student halls. Although not entirely sure what I wanted to do after graduation, I knew that it would not involve moving back to Uist. 

But, then… 

After travelling a bit, studying abroad, returning to Glasgow and falling in love, having a baby, graduating, and kicking off my career in finance, I came home for two whole weeks for my sister’s wedding. It was the longest I had spent in the islands since leaving home and it was my only time being home in the summer. We had two glorious weeks of sunshine and spent the time gathering peat, playing on the beach, and sunbathing in the garden. It was marvellous. We realised that we were doing things wrong – we didn’t belong in a flat in Glasgow and we were not happy with our jobs. So we packed up our life on the mainland and moved home. 

It is almost one year since we moved home and we are so glad that we did. We have traded a two bedroom flat for a three-bedroom house with a private garden, our son is at nursery and loves it, and we are thinking about things that would never have been possible in Glasgow, like buying a place of our own or having a family holiday. We love this place and our years away have made us appreciate it more than we would have otherwise. This brings me to the blog…

I have always liked writing but have never made much time for it - “start a blog” has been on my to-do list for the last year (or maybe more). It is something that has crossed my mind so many times but I have been unable to pinpoint something that interested me enough to write about it often. However, since returning home and realising how much I love this place and care about what happens here, I have figured out what I want to write about. This blog will look at issues that affect the islands and will consider how things could be done differently. 

I have decided to attempt the 30 day blog challenge – a post a day for 30 days. I wasn’t entirely confident about making it as far as day three (I have a three year old to take care of, am learning to drive, learning to knit, and am a master procrastinator). Anyway, I will give it my best shot and hopefully by the end will be in the habit of writing regular posts. In the next 30 days I hope to cover executive pay at the council, the local job market, the Lochboisdale to Mallaig ferry, crofting, the Our Islands, Our Future campaign, and lots more about local developments, opportunities for young people, and what the future might hold for the islands.

Home, Sweet Home

The Scottish Government recently unveiled a new shared equity scheme, Help to Buy (Scotland), aimed at helping first time buyers purchase their first home. With funding of £220m over three years the scheme will provide buyers with up to 20% of the value of the house, in the form of an equity loan. 

So far, so good, but while some housebuilders have described the scheme as a potentially “game changing initiative”, it will be incredibly difficult to reap any real benefit from this scheme in the Western Isles, especially in the Southern Isles, as this scheme will only apply for new-build homes. 

There is a general lack of new build housing, the likes of which are being targeted by this scheme, in the Southern Isles. So far the only developments that have qualified have been built by Hebridean Housing Partnership (HHP), the local housing association. HHP have plans to build four new housing units consisting of 1 and 2 bedroom homes in Balivanich but they have not publicised any plans to increase housing stock in the Southern Isles, other than those units, in the near future.

So where does this leave us? Are there any other local schemes targeting first time buyers in the islands? Well, sort of…

Back in 2011, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar considered the introduction of a Mortgage Assistance Scheme to help first-time buyers. The scheme, which would have helped those struggling to secure their initial deposit, was investigated and in December 2012 was dropped. The Comhairle decided instead to look at introducing a Home Loan Scheme. After exploring the idea in early 2013, the Comhairle determined that the mortgage market had improved sufficiently and that there was reduced demand for such schemes. In September 2013 the idea was officially shelved and the Comhairle decided to look into another option – the Rent to Buy scheme. The Rent to Buy model has been trialled in other rural areas in Scotland and funding to pursue the scheme could be provided by the Scottish Government, but  will it ever come to fruition, or will it be scrapped in favour of exploring the next big thing in housing? Who knows?

I think there is a possible solution for first time buyers here that the council has not yet considered and it takes a completely different approach…

There are dozens of homes left empty right across the islands. A couple of them have caught our eye when we are driving along and we would love to buy one and fix it up.( I know that it sounds like a cliché but my boyfriend is a joiner, and so is his dad, and my dad is an electrician, and they have a lot of knowledge and experience between them.) Not only are the properties usually in a traditional style (which we love), but because of their condition they are cheaper so require a smaller deposit (which is much more reachable than the deposits required for new builds).

One major problem with fixing up a run down house is the retention on the mortgage – a surveyor determines a cost for completing the work that is required to bring the house up to a satisfactory standard and that amount is withheld until the work is carried out and another survey is completed. In the meantime the funds to complete the work typically come from savings or loans (or possibly even generous family members). This can be very difficult for first-time buyers who face enough of a challenge getting the deposit together. As for a house that is uninhabitable in its current condition, it is highly unlikely that you would find a financial institution willing to give you a mortgage. Please correct if I am wrong (and preferably give me the details of said financial institution).

Of course, there are schemes aimed at the owners of empty properties including one in Eilean Siar, but they will only help to create homes for private rent. I think that a scheme aimed at helping first time buyers to buy and renovate empty properties could solve a lot of problems. 

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar have indicated a commitment to bringing empty homes back into use in their housing strategy but believe that the cost of renovating such properties is prohibitive. A scheme aimed at buyers rather than owners, with no or low interest loans covering the mortgage retention, could work because the buyers would have a greater incentive to do the work (moving into the first home they have ever owned), and the loan would be secure and short-term, with the full mortgage value being released to the buyer upon completion of necessary works, thus allowing relatively quick repayment of the loan.

Obviously, this is route would not be appropriate for everyone but it would complement the schemes for new builds nicely and would be much more appropriate for certain parts of the islands. And if something like this could be devised and implemented very soon that would be just lovely because we have our eye on a couple of places.