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Western Isles Council is to develop a fresh strategy on the youth drain crisis affecting the islands.

 

Too many young people are leaving for opportunities on the mainland while not enough 20-somethings are living in the Hebrides and raising families.

 

New islands' minister, Humza Yousaf, and community planning agencies are invited to attend a seminar in the autumn.

 

A new framework to try and stem depopulation would be developed at the event.

 

 

A council report stresses: "It is clear that population decline and related issues of demographic imbalance are amongst the most acute economic and social issues faced by the Outer Hebrides."

 

Council leader, Angus Campbell, said: “Attracting people to our islands is something we have worked on for many years and positive net migration is an essential part of counteracting the negative natural change that the Outer Hebrides continues to experience."

 

"These islands offer a good quality of life but we also need to provide the infrastructure for people to fulfil their aspirations and for that we need good and affordable housing, good services and most importantly; a multi-agency approach."

 

The inflow of "lifestyle" in-migrants such as pensioners and empty-nesters, from other parts of the UK coming to the islands buoys the latest 27,070 population estimates.

 

Numerous schools have shut recently while pupil rolls continue to decline resulting in less central government income to provide public services.

 

The youth exodus has a serious impact at the older end of the generation gap, creating a catch-22 financial problem for the islands' council.

 

The Western Isles has a skewed age and gender profile with pensioners making up over a quarter of the population.

 

By 2037, the islands are projected to have the highest percentage of

pensioners in Scotland - some 37% of the islands’ total.

 

As the elderly population increases, there is intense demand for additional health and care services.

 

But the shortfall of people of working age means it is often impossible to get staff to look after vulnerable, elderly and infirm people at home.

 

The lack of affordable housing, transport, training and decent jobs as well as poor mobile and broadband signal are important deciding factors pushing young people away from the Western Isles, found a recent study from development agency, HIE.

 

However, tackling youth depopulation is "not always a specific area of focus, or indeed a prioritised issue," highlighted the report.

 

Around 37% of island youth indicated they wanted to work in the Western Isles but only 25% thought there are good opportunities for getting a job locally.

 

In addition, the vast majority of island youth are not impressed with the range of job prospects at home, according to HIE's research.

 

The issues have been known for years. A similar study in 2009 recommended it was crucial to alter the perceptions of young people regarding “concerns over job availability, local wage levels and career progression opportunities.”

Western Isles needs more people to tackle depopulation crisis

 

23 June 2016