Latest news with #IsleOfSkye
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gaelic group announce highly-anticipated second album
GAELIC vocal group Sian have announced their highly-anticipated second album, araon. Originally brought together by the Blas festival in 2016, to celebrate the work of female bards, Sian comprises three of today's most exquisitely gifted Gaelic singers – Ceitlin Lilidh, Eilidh Cormack and Ellen MacDonald – accompanied by in-demand multi-instrumentalist Innes White. With direct connections among the singers to Lewis, Skye and North Uist, their arrangements match deep feeling for tradition with stunning, boldly imaginative harmony work, which has seen them likened to The Staves and even Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The first single from the album, Seo a' Bhliadhna, was released on Friday – a traditional lament with connections to the Isle of Skye and Raasay, and particularly the MacLean family. READ MORE: Labour has 'given up' on by-election amid SNP-Reform contest, says John Swinney Seo a' Bhliadhna features guest musicians James Lindsay and Charlie Stewart. The album is produced by Sian's Innes White and Innes Strachan (Niteworks, LUSA), and was recorded and mixed by Iain Hutchison at GloWorm Recording. The release date for the full album is yet to be announced. Cormack said: 'Seo a' Bhliadhna is a beautiful lament, closely connected to the Isle of Skye and Raasay song tradition. 'The composer tells of love and loss in a terrible year – grieving not only her brother and sister, but the man she loves, the golden-haired hunter. 'We wanted to approach the song with respect and care, and I hope listeners can feel that in the arrangement.' MacDonald added: 'The reason I love Sian so much is that you can do so much with just voices. 'You can come up with really cool sounds with just voices.' Ahead of the album release, Sian will tour Scotland throughout this month, performing new material live for the first time. The tour begins tomorrow night in Arisaig's Astley Hall. Tour dates: June 2, Arisaig, Astley Hall; June 3, Inverness, Eden Court; June 4, Isle of Skye, An Crùbh; June 5, Isle of Raasay, Isle of Raasay Distillery; June 6, Glasgow, The Reeling; June 11, Edinburgh, Traverse Theatre. Click here for tickets.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Rise in crashes caused by tourists driving on wrong side of road
The number of crashes caused by visitors to Scotland driving on the wrong side of the road has increased by 46% in a year. Figures released by Transport Scotland showed there were 35 collisions caused by "inexperience of driving on the left" in 2023, up from 24 the previous year. Campaigners have described the rise as "disappointing" and called for additional signage and prompts to be put in place as a reminder for tourists, particularly in rural areas. Road Safety Scotland said there was no clear reason for the increased frequency of crashes. One of the collisions recorded in the 2023 figures resulted in a death. Signage is often placed at airports and other transport hubs and car hire facilities reminding drivers that vehicles in the UK drive on the left side of the road. The vast majority of visitors to Scotland in 2023 came from mainland Europe and the United States – all of which are countries in which motorists drive on the right. Sharon Anslow, founder of the Keep Left campaign, said more had to be done to educate drivers. Mrs Anslow was injured when her car was pushed into a ditch during a head-on collision with a tourist while driving to work in Portree on the Isle of Skye in December 2018. She had to be freed from the wreckage by fire crews and said she was forced to move house due to the trauma of driving on the same route during her work commute. The other driver involved in the crash received a fixed penalty notice despite driving on the wrong side of the road for at least a mile before the crash. Mrs Anslow told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme she had secured funding to put up 250 signs along the roads in Skye and Lochalsh to remind drivers where they should be. But she said the onus should be on councils and road managers to keep other motorists safe. "Raising awareness is fantastic and there are lots of resources online," she said. "But it's not the answer. We should be providing, not just the tourists, but the locals across the whole of Scotland, with proper roads to drive on, with proper signage and directional arrows to keep everybody safe." Wristband campaign In 2022, Italian naval officer Alfredo Ciociola was convicted of killing five people, including his four-year-old son, in a crash on the A96 near Keith. Two years earlier, Gerrit Reickmann, from Germany, caused the death of his girlfriend Melina Rose Päprer when he was involved in a head-on crash while driving on the wrong side of the road near Drumnadrochit in the Highlands. Road Safety Scotland director, Michael McDonnell, said tourists often struggled in more rural areas, where there was little to no traffic to "prompt" them into driving on the correct side. He also said tiredness could be a factor. The organisation has worked with VisitScotland and car hire companies to educate tourists on where they should be driving. They have provided vehicle rental companies with wristbands with the message "drive on the left" in nine different languages. It is hoped that drivers would see them while they have their hands on the steering wheel. Mr McDonnell said passengers also had a role to play in keeping the driver aware of where they should be on the road. He said: "The difficulty we have in Scotland is that one of the attractions of the country is the remote, rural areas, the places people like to visit with its tremendous beauty spots. "Quite often, people, when they go into these areas, they encounter less traffic and so, when there is a lot of traffic on the road you get hints as to where you should be. "The same thing happens early in the morning or late at night when people set off, so you get this increase just when there isn't traffic on the road."
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Locals in picturesque seaside town fighting Airbnb crisis reveal heart-breaking loophole stopping them from buying homes
To many, it is an idyllic postcard destination with its Fairy Pools, rugged mountains and picturesque fishing villages. After all, its dramatic landscapes even feature as a filming location in the Game of Thrones. But for young people actually living on the Isle of Skye, it is more than just a beauty spot. It is their home. It is where they grew up, went to school, found work, and had hopes of buying their own homes. But heartbroken locals have told MailOnline how youngsters are increasingly being priced out of Skye as AirBnB landlords who have 'never stepped foot on the island' snap up all the homes. And a frustrating loophole in how mortgages are approved in Scotland means AirBnB businessmen - often from 'down South' - can easily outbid young couples and families who spend years saving up for a deposit. Speaking to MailOnline, one councillor suggested as much as 60 per cent of properties on the island lay empty during the winter months as they have all turned into second homes and short-term lets. Hospitality bosses, who often have to hire staff from off the island, have said the crisis is so bad that they've had to scale back their businesses due to a lack of long-term private rentals available. The island's booming AirBnB market comes as no surprise considering it is the second most visited destination in Scotland after Edinburgh, but locals say it is leaving them with no choice but to move onto the mainland. Ryan Scott, 17, tells of how he has little hopes of being able to buy a property on the island as AirBnB developers cause prices to shoot up The average house price at the tourist hotspot now stands at £260k, over £60k higher than the average house price for Scotland - which is £194k. Ryan Scott is a 17-year-old fisherman who had goals of buying a two-bed home on Skye in the coming years, but now admits it is highly unlikely. He told MailOnline: 'People that don't live on Skye buy houses and convert them into AirBnBs. 'I remember there was a nice three-bed house that went up for sale that went for £500k. '£500k for a house in Dunveggan, it's ridiculous. It was a joke. 'I want to buy a house, we were looking at two-beds and discussing it but it's just too hard right now. It's so difficult because of AirBnBs. 'They're just buying it all up and pushing prices up. 'I think its mainly people from down South, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London. A lot of the English. 'I guess if you live in the city and have a good job, it's so easy to buy up here. 'I don't blame them, if we were in the same position we probably would too. 'But it's obviously not nice for the people who live here.' Last year, data showed that house prices on Scottish islands had shot up by 30 per cent over five years from 2018 to 2023, with reports it was sparked by a rise in cash buyers in the market. In 2020, community leaders wrote an open letter warning of how rising property prices on Skye were preventing locals from buying a home, comparing the situation to an 'economic clearance'. The situation, locals say, has been exacerbated by a common trend on the island of AirBnB buyers from outside of Skye offering up to 50 per cent over the asking price of a home. Councillor John Finlayson said up to 60 per cent of homes lay empty during the winter period as they have all become second homes and holiday lets In one case, a family told of how they were outbid on a property that was advertised as on sale for £110,000 after the successful buyer offered £150,000 - £40,000, or 36 per cent, more than the house value. In Scotland means buyers are only able to get a loan based on the value of the home - which is determined in a 'home report' - and not the purchase price. This means that any amount above the home value has to be footed by the buyer themselves - something which is easily done by developers and landlords, locals say, but is pushing young people out. A couple could spend years saving up for a 10 per cent deposit to purchase a £100k home, but to compete with a buyer offering £40k above the asking price, they would need to cough-up an additional £40k cash upfront. A local on Skye, Ms Macluod, told of how the rise of AirBnBs is making it near impossible to buy and destroying the community. Her own daughter was priced off the island. She said: 'It's definitely a problem, there's no doubt about that. 'My daughter got married and wanted to buy here with her husband but she couldn't afford to. 'There are so many people buying up properties and using them as AirBnBs. 'I understand why but there's a shortage of homes so don't take up every home that's available. 'A woman told me an entire street where she lives is now completely AirBnBs bar two houses. 'You lose the sense of community you know, there are just people coming and going all the time.' Describing her daughter's situation she said: 'It's the cheaper, smaller homes that are bought up really quickly for AirBnBs. 'They are snapped up quick which is worse because those are the homes first time buyers are going for. 'At one point after Covid, houses were going for 20 per cent over asking. It was really extortionate. 'My daughter and her husband wanted to buy a house locally but they couldn't. 'They saw a house they liked and I think they put an offer down. The house was going for £110k, but they were outbid and it sold for £150k. 'That's almost 50 per cent above the asking price. 'It just means the asking price becomes meaningless. 'It's a mix of both local businessmen and folks across from us in England. 'They can buy so easily. The comparison is that for what you would get a shed for in London you would get a three-bed up here. 'I'm not sure exactly how common it is but I wouldn't be surprised as it is profitable. 'There are no cheaper homes on the market, all the two or three beds are snapped up.' Speaking to MailOnline, her daughter, who had to move 90 miles off the island to a village closer to Inverness, said: 'There's a housing crisis and also not a whole load of work aside from tourism. 'I had been working off the island and was wanting to move home after marrying my husband. 'A house was coming onto the market for £110k and we thought that was somewhat doable and we had enough for a deposit so we put an offer in. 'But we were outbid by £40k. 'That is crazy money. This was three of four years ago now. We ended up buying off the island but I keep an eye on the market as I'd like to move home long-term. 'It's hard because you're bidding against people with more disposable income. 'When it's over the asking price, we can't get that on the mortgage, you just have to pay that. 'I do have an issue with people who don't live on Skye buying AirBnBs because they're not contributing to Skye's economy. 'I don't think it's fair.' Scottish government analysis in 2019 revealed AirBnB listings on Skye account for 18.6 per cent (1,083) of all dwellings on the island - the highest rate of any Scottish ward. There were an estimated 5,813 homes on Skye at the time of this research. Comparatively, only 1.2 per cent of dwellings across Scotland were found to be AirBnBs. The percentage is thought to have risen further in the last few years. A search for on the AirBnB website for a week in June returns more than 1,000 available results. According to the Short Term Lets licensing public register, there are several thousands of licences approved for short-term lets, ranging from entire houses to pods and converted sheds. Skye councillor John Finlayson suggested a drive around the Scottish isle during the winter months would reveal more than half of homes lay empty with 'not a single light on'. He said: 'If you drive around Skye around Christmas time, in November and December, about 60 per cent of the houses will be unaccompanied. 'You can drive through some roads and there'll be hardly any lights on in the houses. 'Increasingly, we have people buying properties without even seeing them and turning them into AirBnBs. 'And then we have some people who aren't even from off the island, they live here, and they are buying up particularly ex-council houses that go up for sale. 'You have developers buying them and pushing ordinary people out of the market. 'The authority do charge 200 per cent council tax on second homes but that makes no difference to people using it as AirBnBs. There is a distinction between people using it as second homes and AirBnBs. 'There are also increasingly more pods, and people turning sheds into short-term lets too. 'The thing is AirBnBs do support the economy, but the issue is the number of people who buy who don't live here. They see it online and buy it without ever stepping foot on Skye.' He joked: 'Rich folk from London have no problem buying up here. 'You get a lot of people from down south but then it's not exclusively them, it's people all around the UK. 'Take a walk around and count the number of houses that have those lockboxes outside them. They're all holiday lets. 'You have people putting a chalise right in the garden and turning the shed into a bedroom. 'That's not what the housing community is about, is it? A lot of them are ex-council houses.' SNP councillor Drew Millar echoed his concerns, stating that there was a huge problem of AirBnB buyers offering tens of thousands above the asking price. He said: 'Houses coming up on sale are being snapped up at much more than what they're valued at and then converted into AirBnBs. 'We're short of housing here and normal people can't afford a mortgage anymore. 'The AirBnBs are pricing young people out of the market. 'It's heartbreaking. 'People are bidding £20-30k over the asking price, and they are usually for AirBnBs. 'A lot of these people have never stepped foot on the island. They can now look online and buy without ever stepping foot. 'There are parts of the Highlands deemed as a test area for controlling these things. And the feeling here in Skye is that we should have one of these. 'There are 200 social homes being built over the next few years, but that's just affordable rent. 'For those wanting to buy there's nothing. 'We need some sort of controls in place to control the number of short-term lets, which should make it more difficult for people to stroll in and purchase property. 'Across the whole of the Highlands young people are being priced out. 'My real issue is with people who don't live on Skye. They buy up property then employ people to manage it. Therefore, any profit is not going back into the community. 'And then housing is springing up in price. People are chasing, there is demand, and it so it hikes up the prices. 'It means we're also losing some of the community spirit. 'When neighbours see a house up for sale they worry it's going to become an AirBnB, with cars arriving all the time, people just coming and going. 'The current legislation is horrible. I resigned from the housing committee because we weren't rejecting any licences. 'The way the law is set up there is virtually no way to stop someone getting a licence for a short-term let. 'I was so frustrated that I decided I was not doing it anymore. We were basically rubber-stamping every application.' The picturesque island is a top tourist spot and during and post-Covid experienced a big rise in house prices Robert Macaskill, who runs Relish Cafe which sits in the ultra-touristy Wentworth Street in Portree, told of how he has had to scale back his business due to not being able to take on enough staff. He said that while he has many applications come in to relocate to the island, there are not enough private rentals on the island to find a place to live. He said: 'I'm looking to downsize but I can't. Any small homes that come onto the market are snapped up immediately. 'And even a two-bed semi here is so expensive, it's about £180-200k now. 'You get a lot of people from away, off the island, that buy up. 'And there is just a lack of housing. If I were to employ for a position, I get so many applications come through. 'But I know the situation. There are no private rentals, I saw on recently that was £900/m for a two-bed. 'It means that we've had to go from being open seven days a week to six days now. 'And on a day like today we've had to close the upstairs seating area. 'We've probably turned away around 200 people because of that today. We just don't have enough staff for it. 'I reckon about 50 per cent of homes on the island are probably AirBnB, it's probably a lot more than we think. 'I guess it does generate tourism and work so it a double-edged sword.' Meanwhile, Adrian Rudak, who moved to Skye 20 years ago and lives in affordable housing said: 'Even private rentals are difficult here because landlords prefer to rent short-term to tourists. 'The problem is the infrastructure is not growing in line with the tourism, there's not even houses and there's only one Co-op. 'I've lived on Skye for 20 years and I remember back when for six months a year it would be quiet and the other six it would be 'season'. 'Now it's season most of the time bar the three months in the winter. 'I don't even think about buying property here to be honest, I'm in social housing. 'There are loads, loads, loads of AirBnBs here. 'I do understand why they do it but there are no houses for young people even to rent.' Across from Portree, in Dunveggan, which is slightly less of a tourist hotspot, staff at a cafe told of the issues with hospitality due to the shortage in rentals. Sergio Pina, 49, spoke to MailOnline at The Blas Inn. He said: 'We've definitely seen an increase of English people buying houses and property here. 'They build it up, make it into an AirBnB, and then move back home. 'Elderly people tend to say. But people in their 30s or 40s, they don't stay. They sometimes come up for a few weeks, or just never show up at all. 'It is very very expensive up here, if it weren't for my partner I would have struggled to find housing here, 'The prices aren't that different to London, which is crazy. 'In the down season, most properties here lay empty. 'Most businesses in the hospitality sector here need to provide housing because it's so hard to get anything. 'We are only open for eight months a year and we accommodate some of the staff in caravans. There is just no housing.' Ewan Robinson, who is working at The Blas Inn as a summer job before returning to university in Ayr, is staying in a caravan. He said: 'In London you can sell your bedsit and buy a castle up here. So of course you can understand why people do it. 'People buy up here, come here for a couple of weeks, and then short-term let it. 'It happens a lot. 'The majority of people, particularly the elderly, are from southern England, not even posh or from affluent areas, just when you've equity it's a choice people make. 'You can probably sell a garage down there and get a house for that price here. 'But a lot of them actually move here which is different.' He added: 'I'm staying in a caravan on Croft Land. Without that I wouldn't have even been able to think about coming up here to work.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Rise in crashes caused by tourists driving on wrong side of road
The number of crashes caused by visitors to Scotland driving on the wrong side of the road has increased by 46% in a year. Figures released by Transport Scotland showed there were 35 collisions caused by "inexperience of driving on the left" in 2023, up from 24 the previous year. Campaigners have described the rise as "disappointing" and called for additional signage and prompts to be put in place as a reminder for tourists, particularly in rural areas. Road Safety Scotland said there was no clear reason for the increased frequency of crashes. One of the collisions recorded in the 2023 figures resulted in a death. Signage is often placed at airports and other transport hubs and car hire facilities reminding drivers that vehicles in the UK drive on the left side of the road. 'Keep left' campaign targets tourists Crash survivor in 'keep left' campaign The vast majority of visitors to Scotland in 2023 came from mainland Europe and the United States – all of which are right-hand drive countries. Sharon Anslow, founder of the Keep Left campaign, said more had to be done to educate drivers. Mrs Anslow was injured when her car was pushed into a ditch during a head-on collision with a tourist while driving to work in Portree on the Isle of Skye in December 2018. She had to be freed from the wreckage by fire crews and said she was forced to move house due to the trauma of driving on the same route during her work commute. The other driver involved in the crash received a fixed penalty notice despite driving on the wrong side of the road for at least a mile before the crash. Mrs Anslow told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme she had secured funding to put up 250 signs along the roads in Skye and Lochalsh to remind drivers where they should be. But she said the onus should be on councils and road managers to keep other motorists safe. "Raising awareness is fantastic and there are lots of resources online," she said. "But it's not the answer. We should be providing, not just the tourists, but the locals across the whole of Scotland, with proper roads to drive on, with proper signage and directional arrows to keep everybody safe." In 2022, Italian naval officer Alfredo Ciociola was convicted of killing five people, including his four-year-old son, in a crash on the A96 near Keith. Two years earlier, Gerrit Reickmann, from Germany, caused the death of his girlfriend Melina Rose Päprer when he was involved in a head-on crash while driving on the wrong side of the road near Drumnadrochit in the Highlands. Road Safety Scotland director, Michael McDonnell, said tourists often struggled in more rural areas, where there was little to no traffic to "prompt" them into driving on the correct side. He also said tiredness could be a factor. The organisation has worked with VisitScotland and car hire companies to educate tourists on where they should be driving. They have provided vehicle rental companies with wristbands with the message "drive on the left" in nine different languages. It is hoped that drivers would see them while they have their hands on the steering wheel. Mr McDonnell said passengers also had a role to play in keeping the driver aware of where they should be on the road. He said: "The difficulty we have in Scotland is that one of the attractions of the country is the remote, rural areas, the places people like to visit with its tremendous beauty spots. "Quite often, people, when they go into these areas, they encounter less traffic and so, when there is a lot of traffic on the road you get hints as to where you should be. "The same thing happens early in the morning or late at night when people set off, so you get this increase just when there isn't traffic on the road."
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Rise in crashes caused by tourists driving on wrong side of Scottish roads
The number of crashes caused by visitors to Scotland driving on the wrong side of the road has increased by 46% in a released by Transport Scotland showed there were 35 collisions caused by "inexperience of driving on the left" in 2023, up from 24 the previous have described the rise as "disappointing" and called for additional signage and prompts to be put in place as a reminder for tourists, particularly in rural Safety Scotland said there was no clear reason for the increased frequency of crashes. One of the collisions recorded in the 2023 figures resulted in a is often placed at airports and other transport hubs and car hire facilities reminding drivers that vehicles in the UK drive on the left side of the road. The vast majority of visitors to Scotland in 2023 came from mainland Europe and the United States – all of which are right-hand drive Anslow, founder of the Keep Left campaign, said more had to be done to educate Anslow was injured when her car was pushed into a ditch during a head-on collision with a tourist while driving to work in Portree on the Isle of Skye in December had to be freed from the wreckage by fire crews and said she was forced to move house due to the trauma of driving on the same route during her work commute. The other driver involved in the crash received a fixed penalty notice despite driving on the wrong side of the road for at least a mile before the Anslow told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme she had secured funding to put up 250 signs along the roads in Skye and Lochalsh to remind drivers where they should she said the onus should be on councils and road managers to keep other motorists safe."Raising awareness is fantastic and there are lots of resources online," she said."But it's not the answer. We should be providing, not just the tourists, but the locals across the whole of Scotland, with proper roads to drive on, with proper signage and directional arrows to keep everybody safe." Wristband campaign In 2022, Italian naval officer Alfredo Ciociola was convicted of killing five people, including his four-year-old son, in a crash on the A96 near years earlier, Gerrit Reickmann, from Germany, caused the death of his girlfriend Melina Rose Päprer when he was involved in a head-on crash while driving on the wrong side of the road near Drumnadrochit in the Safety Scotland director, Michael McDonnell, said tourists often struggled in more rural areas, where there was little to no traffic to "prompt" them into driving on the correct also said tiredness could be a organisation has worked with VisitScotland and car hire companies to educate tourists on where they should be have provided vehicle rental companies with wristbands with the message "drive on the left" in nine different is hoped that drivers would see them while they have their hands on the steering wheel. Mr McDonnell said passengers also had a role to play in keeping the driver aware of where they should be on the said: "The difficulty we have in Scotland is that one of the attractions of the country is the remote, rural areas, the places people like to visit with its tremendous beauty spots."Quite often, people, when they go into these areas, they encounter less traffic and so, when there is a lot of traffic on the road you get hints as to where you should be."The same thing happens early in the morning or late at night when people set off, so you get this increase just when there isn't traffic on the road."
