Salmon Scotland calls for more investment in housing for rural communities

Greater investment in rural housing is needed to ensure workers in Scotland’s salmon industry are not priced out of communities, the sector’s representative body says.

Salmon Scotland is urging that the current system, in which millions of pounds is sent from the sector to various regulators and quangos before being redistributed across the country by the Scottish Government, is overhauled in order to ringfence investment in coastal areas.

It is calling for about £10 million of revenue from the industry to be reinvested in the country’s rural communities, putting a particular focus on housing.

Doing so, the body says, would help attract more people to live and work in such areas while retaining local people in a bid to tackle depopulation issues.

The Highlands and Islands region has seen house prices shoot up in recent years, risking people and businesses being forced out of their communities.

Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland, said: “The shortage of available, affordable housing in island and Highland communities is pricing people out of the housing market, and businesses are experiencing problems recruiting and retaining staff – leading to hard-to-fill vacancies, skills shortages and depopulation.

“Long-term house price rises are being exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis, and Scottish ministers should be looking at every lever available to them to make life easier for working people.

“The greatest economic contributor to these coastal communities is the Scottish salmon sector, directly providing 2,500 local jobs – and thousands more through the supply chain.

“We are proud of the jobs and wealth we create in rural Scotland, and we believe our local communities should be the ones who benefit the most.

“There is an opportunity in the Programme for Government for ministers to ensure the millions sent to quangos are put to better use by building affordable housing, ensuring the economic success generated by Scotland’s biggest food export is enjoyed by the communities where we operate.”

A spokesperson for Crown Estate Scotland said: “The seabed is a shared, public space and, like many multi-national businesses, salmon farmers pay to use it for their commercial purposes.

“Crown Estate Scotland then passes profits to the Scottish Government and ministers decide how that money is used.

“From 2017 to 2021, over £28 million from Crown Estate Scotland was passed by Scottish Government to coastal local authorities to support Covid-19 recovery projects, economic regeneration and job creation, flood protection, environmental projects, and more.”