Lack of information over salmon farm accommodation plan

The Faroese-owned company has lodged a planning application to build 14 accommodation units as part of an expanded base at Cuddy Point on Scalpay, which would service five of the company’s fish farms – three as at present plus Scadabay and Geocrab.

While additional employment and investment are welcome there are concerns that plans for accommodation units suggest workers being imported from the mainland with little economic benefit for Scalpay or the islands more widely.

Scalpay Community Council has asked for a meeting with the company to seek more details while Harris councillor Kenny Macleod, who lives on Scalpay, said: “Nobody has come to me and said they are dead against it but they do want more information”.

He added: “I’m not sure how much it is going to contribute to the local economy if most of them are living on the mainland. That is what concerns me”.

Councillor Macleod said that because nobody lives within 25 metres of the site, there had been no individual notifications of the planning application and there has been little awareness of it until recently.

In addition, because of the “cyber incident” almost 18 months ago, Comhairle nan Eilean’s web-site does not carry details of planning applications; only drawings with detailed information requiring a visit to council offices in Stornoway or Benbecula.

The plans are for 14 “individual accommodation units” double-stacked in a row plus a “welfare centre” and excavation of land for “additional site storage”. One Scalpay resident told the Gazette: “It is like an hotel suddenly appearing out of nowhere. I’m not necessarily against it but there needs to be consultation and information before it is waved through.

“It is disappointing that Bakkafrost did not take the initiative by telling the community what they were proposing before they lodged their planning application”.

There are also concerns that similar developments could follow elsewhere in the islands with salmon farming companies becoming more dependent on imported labour in temporary accommodation.

While the trade body, Salmon Scotland, has previously spoken about their member companies building houses for workers in areas of housing shortage, that had been expected to mean houses rather than temporary accommodation of the kind being proposed for Cuddy Point.

Councillor Macleod said: “It is a dilemma. If they were bringing workers in with families, to settle here, it would be different. But there is no housing for workers, so what are the options?”.

As reported last week, Bakkafrost has responded to Gazette inquiries, saying: “The accommodation at Cuddy Point is part of our strategy to help address recruitment challenges we have faced historically.

“Housing as well as flexible shift patterns underpin our efforts to offer employees a healthy work life balance. This application was submitted in line with future recruitment requirements”.