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.

It costs how much!?

Almost three months have passed since The Centre for Research in Social Policy published their research on “A Minimum Income Standard for Remote Rural Scotland”. The headline finding was that rural mainland and island households need between 10 and 40 percent more income than households in urban England to meet a minimum standard of living.

At the time, the results seemed to pass by the local media outlets, which made little, if any, comment on the findings. Perhaps it was not considered news. After all, we are acutely in the aware in the islands that the costs of groceries and fuel here eclipse those found on the mainland. However, looking past the headline figures to the underlying data, I think we should be paying more attention to the study, and particularly to the results relating to the cost of food shopping.

The food shopping models, which were based around the types of retailers present in the study area (in our case the local Co-operatives, and several local convenience stores), looked at a basket of goods considered typical of what would be found in an average weekly shop.

And how much more expensive was a typical basket of shopping in an island settlement (remote from a town) compared with an English rural town?

A whopping 56%!!!

That amounts to an extra £20.53 a week for a single adult and an extra £62.11 a week for a couple with two children! And not only are the prices much higher, but the range of goods available is much more limited than in other areas.

These results got me thinking about whether a healthy diet is really accessible or affordable for many people in the islands. Frugal food habits have gained a lot of exposure recently, in large part thanks to Jack Monroe, a young single mother who, through necessity, has been creating some creative and healthy recipes on a tiny budget, and sharing them with the world through her blog, agirlcalledjack.com.

Jack’s story gained a lot of publicity and with that came a multitude of articles on how to survive on £1 a day and how to eat well on a tight budget. One such article on the BBC News Website identified a one week shopping list, compiled using prices from Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco and ratios based on the NHS Eatwell Plate, which cost a grand total of £14.41.

Would that be possible here, using prices from our local Co-op store? I thought it would be highly unlikely but had a look to see just how far off we would be shopping at the Co-op (prices gathered August / September 2013):

250g rice - £0.18	4 tins beans - £1.80	4 pints milk - £1.52
800g bread - £0.58	3 onions - £0.72	6 eggs - £1.47
330g oats - £0.29	7 bananas - £1.27	Tin sardines - £0.60
250g pasta - £0.20	4 apples - £1.00	1 tin kidney beans - £0.46
1kg potatoes - £1.33	Litre of fruit juice - £0.75	227g chicken liver* - £1.59
3 tins tomatoes - £1.08	600g satsumas - £1.80	100g chickpeas (dried) - £0.89**
1kg frozen sweetcorn - £1.50	100g cheddar - £0.78	Half jar of jam - £0.49
1kg carrots - £1.00	250g butter - £0.58	75ml vegetable oil - £0.25

*Can’t buy here. Substitute for cheapest sausages at £1. **Can’t buy dried. One 400g tin is £0.89.

Total cost: £22.13 (53.5% higher than the BBC Website list)

Obviously some of the items are occasionally on offer or can be bought at reduced prices as they are going out of date but 53.5% is still a huge premium on the prices that can be paid on the mainland. 

Of course, there is a major problem with the list above: the amounts and prices shown are proportions of larger packs and you can’t just buy half a jar or a third of a packet of something for a reduced price. So what could actually be bought here for the £10 a week that Jack Monroe spends on her groceries, or even the £15 a week that the BBC prescribes? I tried to come up with a menu and it was incredibly tough. For £10 I came up with:

1.5kg white flour - £1.29

6 eggs - £1.47

Loaf of bread - £0.58

1 litre milk (UHT) – £0.61

Bag of oats - £0.86

Tin of chopped tomatoes - £0.36

1kg bag of white rice - £0.69

Tin peach slices - £0.46

1kg bag of frozen veg - £1.50

500g pack of butter - £1.15

Packet of instant mash - £0.55

Tin of baked beans - £0.36

TOTAL: £9.88

This list could almost certainly be improved a lot. It is pretty repetitive and completely lacking in protein. Taking the budget up to £15 (actually £14.82) would facilitate the addition of 10 skinless sausages (£1.59), a tin of kidney beans (46p), a carton of orange juice (75p), more milk (61p), tea bags (£1), and a packet of gingernuts (41p). (I’m sure everybody would use that extra budget differently but I think having a cup of tea and a biscuit every evening would make a massive difference to me.)

So, while it would not be easy, it seems that it would be possible to eat a semi-reasonable diet on a low budget in the islands. However, that does not detract from the fact that we pay a considerable premium on our groceries. 

Will we see any changes in the near future? I was told a few months ago that our local Co-op store will be changing their set up and will be lowering their general prices while having fewer in-store offers. I will be keeping an eye out to see if there is any discernible drop in prices (if they have already implemented the changes then there hasn't been) but I certainly won’t be getting my hopes up. After all, you know what they say about leopards and spots.