New team to implement the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 was granted Royal Assent on 6 July 2018 with the first Commencement Regulations for the Act coming into force on 4 October 2018.

The implementation of the Act is being taken forward by the Scottish Government Islands team - Erica Clarkson (Islands Lead) who lives and works in Orkney and Don Morrison (Islands Policy Officer) who is from the Outer Hebrides.

This is an exciting area of work for the team who understand the importance to islands communities of implementing the Act  in the true spirit intended and for it to have the most effective impact possible.

Erica said:

"It’s a real privilege to be able to lead on the implementation of the Act and I’m fortunate that the rest of the team share my enthusiasm for all things islands. The Act presents an exciting opportunity for us to do something significant for island communities and we’re really looking forward to getting out and about to talk to as many people as possible during the consultation phase."

Initially, the focus for the Islands Team will be on development of the National Islands Plan (NIP) and alongside it, the Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) templates and guidance. This work is underway and the process will be transparent with a wide public consultation due to open in spring of 2019.

Updates on progress can be found in our regular blog on the Scottish Rural Network website and the Islands team Twitter account @IslandsTeamSG.

If you have any questions please drop an email to the team at info@islandsteam.scot.