[Scottish Parliament, 18.06.2024] Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has highlighted the urgent need to address the factors causing depopulation in the Highlands and Islands.
In a recent Scottish Parliament debate on rural depopulation, the Scottish Conservative MSP focused on the state of transport infrastructure and a lack of access to healthcare, citing the state of the region’s roads and a running down of local health services.
Speaking after the debate, Mr Halcro Johnston said:
“There is an urgent need to address the key issues which make living in some of our rural and island communities harder and which risk driving depopulation.
“In recent months, I have repeatedly pressed the Scottish Government to deliver on promises made to reinstate 24/7 urgent care at Portree Hospital, but there has also been a general running down of maternity provision, increasing difficulties accessing local GPs and dentists, and real pressure on our local ambulance crews.
“If we want people to stay in our rural and island communities, or to move themselves and their families into these areas, they must be able to have confidence that they will be able to access reliable health services and, when needed, emergency services that respond quickly.
“And this is particularly important to those who want to start a family or who have small children. And yet we have seen maternity provision become increasingly distant from those it is supposed to support.
“Good transport links are also vitally important, but the condition of our roads is a significant barrier to safe and efficient travel. Local roads are often riddled with potholes or in a shocking state of deterioration.
“There has been an abject failure by Scottish ministers in Edinburgh to delivery on key transport projects like the dualling of the A9 and A96, or on significant improvements to other major routes like the A82.
“And, of course, the worsening ferries crisis, both on the West Coast CalMac routes, but also including internal routes such as the Corran Narrows crossing, has left island and other rural communities feeling increasingly isolated.
“Other key factors include a lack of suitable housing, with Scotland having now declared a housing emergency after 17 years of SNP government, as well as the intermittent and unreliable broadband coverage many of our more remote communities are forced to ensure.
“These failures, which come from the inability of Scottish ministers and bureaucrats in Edinburgh to understand the needs of our rural and island communities, only make living in these communities more challenging.
“If we want people to be able stay in the communities they were born and brought up in, and be able to raise their families there too, then the Scottish Government must start delivering on the services, connectivity and housing they need. That is not happening at the moment".
ENDS
Notes to editor
For Jamie Halcro Johnston MSP’s full statement during the debate in Parliament, head to: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-12-06-2024?meeting=15927&iob=135979#orscontributions_M5800E308P795C2599476
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