Exciting times for the Scottish Government Islands Team!

The start of 2020 brings very exciting times for the Islands team!

January saw the introduction of five new members to our previously three membered team - all of who have been seconded to bring relevant islands expertise; Paul Maxton (Orkney Islands Council), Nicola Crook (Scottish Islands Federation), Cameron Anson (Rural Housing Scotland), Cecila Ann MacDonald (Scottish Islands Federation) and Coinneach Morrison (Highland Council). 

This is such a unique and fantastic position for the team and we aim to demonstrate how remote working can work well therefore walking the talk for islands communities. For a full introduction to the team please visit the Islands Team Instagram page.

With Scotland’s first ever National Islands Plan now published, the team understand this is just the start and are now turning our focus to delivering key elements of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, including:

• Development of an ambitious Implementation Route Map for the National Islands Plan. 
• Creation of a Young Islanders Network.
• Development of guidance and templates for the Islands Communities Impact Assessments.

There have been lots of great examples within our own team recently of the resilience that is shown by islanders. Storm Ciara might have stopped Cameron getting home to Mull but he still managed to set up office on the mainland in his car (see another example of one of Cameron's makeshift offices below!), whilst it was third time lucky for Ann making it back to Tiree after a couple of aborted plane landings!

The team are very aware that we must continue to work closely and engage with islanders as we progress our work. Going forward, we will continue to actively seek the direct input and participation of islanders, as well as other stakeholders, which we see as a critical component for the successful implementation of the Act.

In the meantime please get in touch and feed anything relevant back to us at: info@islandsteam.scot