Meeting of the Parliament 21 May 2025
I agree with the deserved recognition of the invaluable contribution of each of Scotland’s islands to the country’s economy, culture and identity. I have said repeatedly that, in Shetland, we punch well above our weight. On numerous occasions, I have highlighted the need for much more infrastructure investment to enable islands to be viable and to contribute to Scotland, as the limitations of infrastructure in addressing issues of geography is a serious barrier to growth.
I am grateful for advance sight of the “Carbon Neutral Islands Financing Roadmap 2025-2028”, although the slightly inaccurate description and spelling of Up Helly Aa in the document leapt out at this Shetlander and is perhaps an unfortunate start.
The carbon-neutral islands project worked with the innovative and proactive North Yell Development Council, which has, unfortunately, now stepped away from the project. I was disappointed by the feedback from those involved locally. I understand that there have been concerns about islands in the CNI project being pitted against one another, overly ambitious timescales, technical complexity and the viability of projects. Reaching our net zero goals should mean bringing along communities across Scotland.
The financing road map also references low-carbon transport solutions, including increased electric vehicle charging infrastructure, yet the National Grid is not in a position to manage increased demand. The irony is not lost on Shetland, where we see the Viking wind farm reportedly generating as little as 17 per cent of its capacity and being paid enormous sums to constrain production as it is considered that the energy infrastructure is not able to cope with higher generation.
Our ferries, both the internal and external services, are often at capacity, meaning that island residents are prevented from going about their daily business because they are unable to get on and off islands internally or to access the overnight ferry service on a date that they need to. As an example of the pressures on the internal service, on Monday a constituent waited in all day for an engineer to swap out his radio teleswitch meter. The engineer did not turn up because they had failed to book the ferry to the north isles and there was no spare capacity on the crossing. Freight in and out of the islands is also constricted simply by the capacity of vessels on the northern isles route.
With investment in short subsea tunnels, not only would there be freedom of movement between islands, cutting commuting time for those who work on mainland Shetland, but our seafood sector would benefit from quicker transport of time-sensitive products, which would enable people to catch external ferries to export their goods in good time.
Tunnels would also connect communities in Shetland and ensure that cultural pursuits are not limited by the last ferry home. Decarbonisation and emission reductions in ferry transport would be welcome, and, although tunnels will not work for all islands, they would for others.
The motion references the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, which had the serious intention of empowering islands and giving island councils greater flexibility in relation to public services. There is still a debate to be had on its achievements, as I often hear constituents asking “Where’s the island proofing?” when any new legislation is brought forward, or when island impact assessment outcomes reach the conclusion that is wanted by the organisations that carry them out and which effectively mark their own homework. Surprisingly, the Scottish Parliament information centre found that the Scottish Government does not appear to record how often it undertakes island impact assessments.
On the development of the national islands plan, the community engagement events across the isles have attracted responses. I would be surprised if many of those contributions did not reference measures to address depopulation in areas such as transport, digital connectivity, childcare and housing, which should be key themes of the new plan.
Investment in housing would ensure that those looking to make a life in the isles and fill the many vacant posts in education, care and the NHS, and islanders returning home after time away, can find somewhere to live.
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