Fish firm to provide housing in Scalpay due to lack of homes
The comhairle said that while the proposal to site the temporary accommodation in a compound was "not ideal," it had been justified in terms of the identified need.BFS employs more than 400 people across about 45 sites on Scotland's west coast.Reporting by local democracy journalist Peter Urpeth.
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Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Could Sheikh feel the heat over solar panels at his 63,000-acre Highland estate?
The billionaire ruler of Dubai added solar panels to a property on his vast Highland estate without obtaining the key planning permission required in advance. Representatives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum - one of the world's richest men with an estimated £11billion fortune - have now filed relevant paperwork with Highland Council to get the green light for the installation at the 63,000-acre Inverinate estate in Wester Ross. The environmentally friendly technology was put in place at Lochview house to the west of the main estate house in a bid to 'enhance the building's sustainability performance' while having 'minimal' visual impact. Retrospective planning permission is also being sought for additional installations at Lochview such as a new staff room, and a ring road connection to improve site circulation and access for service vehicles. A design statement submitted to Highland Council states: 'Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels have been installed on the roof to enhance the building's sustainability performance in line with national and local renewable energy goals. Their location ensures minimal visual impact.' The document from Colin Armstrong Architects also states: 'The PV panels demonstrate a clear commitment to environmental responsibility and align with Highland Council's carbon reduction targets.' The solar panels progress the Sheikh's support of this renewable source of energy, and he is behind the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai. The facility is billed as the largest single-site solar park in the world, and supports the city's aim to produce all of its energy from clean sources by 2050. However, the plans at Inverinate come amid longstanding questions from locals after years of building works at the site, which is located on the banks of Loch Duich, a haven for wildlife such as red deer, Eurasian otters, pipistrelles, west European hedgehogs, and harbour seals. Some people living in the area have previously accused the Sheikh of building a 'mini Dubai' at the estate that he visits only once or twice a year. The 74-year-old bought the property more than two decades ago, and his representatives say major expansion implemented in recent years is to make more room for guests and staff. The Sheikh is one of the UK's biggest landowners with a portfolio spanning more than 100,000 acres, while he developed a friendship with the late Queen through their mutual love of horses, often appearing as her guest at Ascot. Inverinate, whose considerable facilities include several helipads, a hunting lodge and a pool, was recently given the go-ahead to build a tenth on-site property with 15 bedrooms, a large living room and dining room area, and a conservatory. That came after the Sheikh in 2020 won a long battle to create the six-bedroom Ptarmigan Lodge on the estate, despite more than 30 local objections. The application was granted on condition of a £30,000 payment towards local affordable housing. A statement from his representatives submitted to Highland Council regarding the latest plans said: 'This retrospective application reflects necessary and beneficial modifications made during the construction and operational planning phases. The proposed changes are minor in scale relative to the approved development and are fully justified in terms of functional necessity, sustainability, and design integrity. We respectfully request that The Highland Council support this application.'
Times
29 minutes ago
- Times
Rail & Sail ferry service to Belfast ‘set up to fail'
The number of passengers using a flagship rail and ferry service between Scotland and Northern Ireland has tumbled to 12 a day. Freedom of Information figures obtained by The Times reveal the 'Rail & Sail' service carried 4,400 passengers in the year to 2025, compared with 15,000 passengers five years previously. A drastic cut in service levels has been blamed for the 71 per cent drop in annual passenger numbers since 2019. Services were curtailed during the Covid-19 lockdowns, with tickets valid only on a single train, coach and ferry combination each day. This system remains in place. Before the pandemic, several options were available daily. Colin Smyth, Labour's MSP for South Scotland, accused SNP ministers of allowing the service to be 'set up to fail' and called for a direct rail link to Cairnryan port, which replaced Stranraer as Scotland's ferry gateway to Belfast. Currently, passengers must take a coach from Ayr to the port, a transfer that a rail expert says is the root of the problem. 'The rot set in when Stena Line moved operations from Stranraer, where the port directly adjoined the railway station, to the remote Cairnryan,' said Mark Smith, who founded the travel website The Man in Seat 61. He said the service 'appears to have reneged on the promise to provide a bus connection, reducing service to one per day'. Colin Smyth said the once-popular 'boat train' was no longer viable for most travellers owing to its inflexibility. 'By cutting the connection back to a single daily coach, the journey has been made so awkward and inflexible that it's no longer a viable option for most travellers,' he said. He believes the service is being intentionally run down so it can be written off due to 'lack of demand', a move that he says goes against the Scottish government's commitment to promote public transport and reduce transport emissions. Despite the low usage, some travellers have complained that the service was often sold out when they try to book online, with some opting for direct coach transfers from Glasgow instead. The low numbers have also led to instances of the bus leaving Cairnryan with a single passenger onboard. Transport Scotland said that a rail link to the port had been considered in 2022 as part of a strategic transport review but the idea was rejected because it 'was not expected to provide value for money'. Campaigners argue that the current situation goes against Scotland's national transport strategy, which prioritises public transport over cars. Ellie Harrison, a transport campaigner, said this strategy needs to be 'reflected in the cost of the different transport modes, so that the lower-carbon journeys are always cheaper.' She added that with ScotRail now in public ownership, it should be a priority for the government to promote the service and help reduce short-haul flights. In response, ScotRail's commercial director, Claire Dickie, said the company was 'committed to supporting the Rail & Sail route and encouraging sustainable travel options'. She said that ScotRail was working with Stena Line to make the service more 'appealing and reliable for customers' and that ticket sales to Belfast via Cairnryan were 'up 35 per cent so far in 2025'. Stena Line echoed this sentiment, calling the Rail & Sail service 'a key part of the Stena Line travel offer' and stating that the company 'would welcome improvements in rail services and products'. A Transport Scotland spokesman said any commercial decisions related to ticket initiatives would be for Stena Line to decide, in liaison with other operators such as ScotRail.
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
SNP pays growing number of ‘fat cat' civil servants £100k
The number of senior Scottish civil servants earning more than £100,000 a year has grown under the SNP, figures show. The Scottish Government currently employs 73 senior civil servants (SCS), who are the heads of various departments and directorates. The highest paid is Caroline Lamb, the director-general of the health department and head of the Scottish NHS, whose annual salary is listed as between £205,000 and £209,000. Last year, only 66 staff were on six-figure salaries, adding up to a total of £7.5m. But the top tier of civil servants now costs taxpayers £8.6m a year in wages with many earning in excess of £110,000 – three times the average annual salary in Scotland. Levels of pay for SCS are set by the UK Government in Westminster, but the size of the civil service in Scotland is determined by Holyrood. There were 52 senior officials earning salaries of more than £100,000 in 2023, 38 in 2021 and just 14 as recently as 2018. This year, top earners included Joe Griffin, now the permanent secretary to the Scottish Government, who was paid £140,000 per year in his former role of director general of strategy and external affairs, and Alyson Stafford, who earns £160,000 per year as director general of the Scottish Exchequer. The growing wage bill has emerged after the Scottish Government launched a round of cuts to the budgets of NHS and mental health services citing growing financial pressures. Last September, Shona Robison, the finance secretary, announced £115.8m in cuts to health and social care as part of the SNP government's savings plan. Critics have criticised the 'out of control' cost of civil service wages to taxpayers, and accused the SNP of having the wrong priorities. Craig Hoy, the spokesman for finance and local government for the Scottish Conservatives, told the Mail: 'The civil service, and the cost of it, have ballooned out of control under the SNP's watch, and by far the biggest expansion has been in those on the highest salaries. 'When Scots are paying the UK's highest taxes, but seeing worsening services, there's no excuse for fat cat pay packages of this sort.' Equalities and rights roles also surged In May, it emerged that the number of civil servants working on equalities and human rights in Scotland had also grown under the SNP, surging by almost 50 per cent in two years. Scottish Government figures released under Freedom of Information laws showed the costs of its Equalities and Human Rights Directorate had risen sharply after a huge increase in staffing and salary levels. The number of officials on the department's payroll rose from 105.6 in 2022-23 to 152.7 in 2024-25 – an increase of 44.6 per cent. The period of the increase coincided with Nicola Sturgeon's government tabling the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill, which would have allowed biological men to change legal gender by simply signing a declaration.
