Islands working group meeting ‘positive’

Representatives of the Scotland’s three islands councils – Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles – took part in the first “Islands Working Group” meeting in Edinburgh, with the UK Government, on Monday.

Speaking after the meeting, OIC convener Councillor Steven Heddle said: “We were delighted to be able to meet the Secretary of State for Scotland and representatives from a wide spectrum of UK Government departments this morning.

“It provided us with an important opportunity to take forward some of our priority areas, such as ensuring islands’ interests are reflected in UK Government policy making, island grid connections, fuel poverty, EU representation and the seabed owned by The Crown Estate.”

Councillor Heddle added that an Islands Summit, with the Secretary of State, is due to take place in March 2015.

“We made the point to the Secretary of State that there is an appetite in the islands for tangible delivery from the campaign.  We feel that, through the actions identified from this meeting, we have identified the routes for delivering some of the key campaign priority areas”.

The Secretary of State for Scotland, and Northern Isles MP, Alistair Carmichael commented: “Islands communities face unique challenges and today’s meeting – which was attended by a broad range of UK Government departments – reflects our commitment to working with the islands councils to enable communities in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles to fully benefit from the abundant natural resources they are blessed with.”