Housing to 2040: island communities impact assessment

Step Three: Consultation

The development of the Housing to 2040 Vision, Principles and Route Map was subject to an extensive stakeholder and community engagement and consultation exercise, undertaken between 2018 to 2020, using a variety of different formats.

This included:

• Stakeholder engagement in 2018[i];
• An online consultation and events held across the country in 2019/20 (link when available);
• A travelling housing exhibition in 2019 ‘Present Voices, Future Lives’ (link when available): The exhibition visited twelve urban, rural and island locations across Scotland and collected a wealth of feedback from young people and communities about the housing issues that mattered most to them; and
• Social Renewal Advisory Board (to capture COVID-19 related impacts).

Our approach ensured that those living in island and remote communities were given a suitable and accessible platform to voice their opinions, concerns and suggestions about how our homes and communities should look and feel like in 2040 and the options and choices to get there. Annex B includes a summary of the key areas in which respondents called for action and made proposals for the route map relating to rural and island communities.

3.1      Stakeholder engagement in 2018

Following the First Minister’s announcement in 2018 that we would work together with stakeholders on how Scotland’s homes and communities should look and feel in 2040, a discussion paper[ii] was published. This set out some draft vision statements and principles to help inform discussions on the future of housing, and invited comments on these. The responses were used to help us to develop a vision for 2040 for the whole housing system, not just housing supply, along with themes and outline options that might underpin that vision.

We received written responses from a number of representatives of island communities[iii], including from Argyll & Bute Council, Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust, North Ayrshire Council, Orkney Housing Association, Orkney Islands Council (& Registered Social Landlords), Rural and Island Housing Association Forum, Tighean Innse Gall, Shetland Islands Council, and Western Isles Council.

Stakeholders’ views were also gathered as part of the Housing to 2040 launch event in September 2018 and also through other conversations with stakeholders during autumn 2018.

This engagement highlighted concerns around:

• Higher development costs, given that the economies of scale in large urban developments could not be replicated in island communities and the need for more flexible funding.
• Access to skilled labour and lack of competition in rural and island areas.
• A “one size fits all” central belt focused approach
• Rural and island depopulation
• The need for a holistic approach which includes improving accessibility, broadband, infrastructure, renewable energy technology, transport and investment.

Stakeholders also said that they would like to see more affordable homes in rural and island areas.

3.2      Consultation on outline policy options 2019/20

In July 2019, we published a draft vision for 2040 and a set of underlying principles to guide future policy development.[iv] A further round of consultation[v] seeking comment on the draft vision and principles and suggestions for how to make these a reality was undertaken in 2019/20.

The consultation gathered views from a wide range of stakeholders across Scotland, including written responses from Argyll and Bute Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, North Ayrshire Council, Shetland Islands Council, The Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South Harris Community Council, The Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust, The North Harris Trust,  West Harris Trust, Tighean Innse Gall, Hebridean Housing Partnership, Orkney Housing Association, Western Isles Housing Association Community Forum, Highland Council, and NHS Highland.

Unfortunately, from the respondent information collected it was not possible to determine the number of individuals from island communities who submitted written responses.

As part of the formal consultation process, two events were scheduled to take place to directly engage with communities in Islay and Jura. However due to adverse weather conditions and the restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic it was not possible to host these events in person. Instead, virtual consultation events took place to hear the views of these communities and the outputs from these events have been considered alongside the written responses to the consultation. The virtual events took place on 7 September 2020 for Jura and on 8 September 2020 for Islay.

3.3           Travelling housing exhibition in 2019

Further contributions to Housing to 2040 were also gathered as part of the travelling housing exhibition ‘Present Voices, Future Lives’, which was timed to coincide with the consultation. The exhibition visited 12 rural, urban and island locations across Scotland. Public community sessions and workshops took place on three Scottish islands, namely on 13 November 2019 in Kirkwall, Orkney, on 3 December 2019 in Portree, Skye and on 5 December 2019 in Rothesay, Bute. Overall, 73 people attended the exhibition in Kirkwall with 38 people participating in workshops; 55 people attended the exhibition in Portree with 30 people taking part in the workshops; and 73 people visited the exhibition in Rothesay with a total of 63 people participating in the workshops.

The exhibition coincided with the formal consultation and aimed to provide an opportunity for these communities to engage with the development of the Housing to 2040 Vision and Route Map. Children and young people engaged directly with the exhibition through planned workshops. The views from these sessions were collated and presented in the ‘Present Voices, Future Lives’ report published in 2021. [vi]

The consultation and travelling exhibition reiterated the concerns raised in the 2018 engagement, and in addition emphasised:

• The need to recognise the distinct needs of rural areas and island communities
• That government should recognise local circumstances more when deciding grant levels
• Planning regulations should be able to regulate the change of status for houses, from residential to rental or holiday accommodation, to balance the need for homes for people to live in with the need for accommodation to support tourism in some areas.
• A lack of affordable housing, including homes for key and skilled workers, as a key driver of rural and island depopulation, with second homes and short-term lets being a contributory factor.
• The availability of land for new housing and the high cost of heating and digital connectivity were also cited as concerns.
• Community and wellbeing for island communities also featured in responses.

Children, young people and others who took part in workshops as part of the touring housing exhibition said that wellbeing and the environment were the most important challenges, followed by work and resources.

Participants in rural areas and islands generally highlighted the need for more amenities in rural and island towns, particularly for young people. The need to be more energy efficient and sustainable in the way we build and maintain our housing stock was another point regularly raised.

In some cases concern around climate change was raised, especially in remote coastal communities such as those on the Orkney Islands. Young people taking part in the workshops (the majority of whom were of secondary school age) were more concerned about finding suitable and engaging work in towns, rural and island areas rather than in cities. Housing is regarded as an important tool to help sustain communities and encourage young people to stay. The amount of housing in island communities used either for short-term letting or as a second home was believed to have created a shortage of suitable housing, particularly for young people and families.