SCDI: Highland housing crisis and A9 dualling must be addressed
A wise man once told me about the power of repetition and how a simple message heard over and over again is most likely to stay in your mind, however my follow-on question would be about how successful this approach actually is for achieving meaningful action under certain circumstances?
Regular readers of this column will be aware of my continued call to government to address the regional housing crisis across the Highlands and Islands and I was delighted to have the opportunity earlier this month to address this very subject at a meeting with some of our members and the relatively new housing minister Paul McLennan.
We were delighted to hear first-hand his desire to fully understand the regional picture and welcome his upcoming engagements over the summer that will see him visit a number of locations where the challenges are acute. In reflecting our members views, we were very clear about the housing shortages and the major impact it is having on the ability for businesses in some sectors to sustain demand but perhaps more importantly, to allow a significant number of businesses to have the potential to employ large numbers of skilled workers through growth and expansion.
Repopulation and migration is vital to create flourishing communities and SCDI will continue to repeat this message until we get the government to fully support the housing needs to support our ambitions for the region.
Whilst on the subject of repeating the same message, let’s not forget the importance of the A9 dualling. Having reflected recently on a report that SCDI did in 1972 where the A9 dualling was one of our recommendations to support economic growth, 50 years later there have been some significant improvements but with recent promises broken and 2025 now no longer an achievable goal, the time has come to put party politics aside and get cross-party commitments to delivering on a revised timetable for this crucial piece of infrastructure which supports our regional ambitions for economic and social prosperity.
Grant Campbell is SCDI’s regional manager for the Highlands and Islands.
