Is a new settlement the answer to spiralling housing demand?

Orkney may be building housing at a faster rate than anywhere else in Scotland, but the county still needs 1,600 new properties in the next decade is a demographic disaster if to be prevented.

The answer, however, is not simply to build more houses, according to a major study completed by ASPIRE Orkney prior to its dissolution next year.

The scale of the task identified by the author of the report is hinted at by one of its recommendations — to build a new settlement from scratch in the West Mainland.

For a full feature on the housing situation in the county, pick up this week’s edition of The Orcadian.