22/11/2024
Worker Accommodation Project
Having received outline Planning Consent for the proposed developments in East Tarbert, it was a great disappointment to us to be advised by North Harris Trust that they were now withdrawing as partners in the project. With that also went the two sites we had identified and agreed to purchase. We are currently seeking further information from them to ascertain whether they will support applications for other suitable sites within the North Harris Trust area.
Meantime we are continuing to progress this vital project and are building in some of the feedback we received during the Planning process and also seeking out other sites within Harris. We will be speaking to both community and private landowners to try and identify suitable locations.
The shortage of accommodation here is continuing to have a grave effect on recruitment. This project will enable employers to offer initial accommodation to anyone seeking to move here to fill one of the many vacancies throughout Harris. It is clear that the lack of accommodation has resulted in much lower applications for jobs here, with many going unfilled for long periods.
The community of Harris is suffering from depopulation as evidenced by the most recent census. Furthermore, the demographic is of an aging population. As a community group, HDL have endeavoured to address this crisis through the provision of accommodation aimed specifically at a younger working age demographic. This will give our community resilience in our public services: education, health, and care. It will also strengthen the local economy by affording local businesses the opportunity to recruit out with the exhausted local labour market and encourage start-ups. This recruitment will offer the opportunity for growing the population by attracting young people here to hopefully settle long term. As this is a community run project it also means that income from it will be used to support other community projects.
The project continues to be supported by Scottish Land Fund (SLF), Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (CnES) as well as the community groups that are all members of the Harris Forum.
The Board of Harris Development Ltd.
