Rural and islands housing: action plan

Strategic Context

The First Minister set out the missions of Scottish Government in Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership - A fresh start in April 2023, making clear that equality, opportunity and community are the government’s missions. This plan supports these missions and complements a range of other vital work being taken forward to deliver for our remote rural and island communities. Housing will also be a key part of the forthcoming Rural Delivery Plan, which will set out how all parts of the Scottish Government are delivering for Scotland’s rural, coastal and island communities.

This plan sets out a range of actions to support Housing to 2040, our long-term national housing strategy to ensure people have good, safe, secure and warm homes. Specifically, it supports the commitment in that strategy to take ‘action so that rural and island communities have access to high quality affordable and market housing, which is planned alongside the infrastructure that helps people live, work and thrive and help stem rural depopulation’.

Housing to 2040 recognises the challenges and diversity of housing delivery in rural areas and it also recognises the significant and generational impact that a small number of additional homes can make to the long-term resilience of rural communities. The role of rural housing was further emphasised by specific commitments in the Bute House Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party.

Scotland’s National Islands Plan recognises that no single aspect, be it transport, housing or health, operates in isolation. They are all reliant on one another and need to work together to achieve the best possible outcomes. It includes a range of commitments around housing including making best use of existing homes, regulation of short-term lets, tackling empty homes and the continuation of grant funding for crofters to build and improve croft houses. The National Islands Plan Implementation Route Map sets out how the Scottish Government is delivering priorities over the lifetime of the National Islands Plan. As required by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, the National Islands Plan is being reviewed in 2023-2024 to ensure it remains fit for purpose.

The focus of this Action Plan is on remote, rural and island communities. The Scottish Government defines urban-rural classification in a consistent way based on population and accessibility. For the purposes of this Action Plan, we use the 6-fold classification of remote rural, accessible rural and remote small towns (classification areas 4, 5 and 6).

The housing issues faced by remote, rural and island communities are diverse. The quality, price and availability of homes can vary as can local economic opportunities and incomes. Location, accessibility, transport and amenities will also have an impact. The demands placed on housing supply for uses other than as permanent homes are also key. The tourism sector is vital to many parts of rural Scotland, however, the level of demand from tourists and second homeowners, can affect the availability as well as the affordability of housing for local communities, key workers and seasonal workers.

This Action Plan recognises the complexity of delivering more homes in the right places in our remote, rural and island communities and that a one size fits all approach does not work. Interventions that work in one community may not be applicable in others and understanding housing supply, market drivers and demand as well as issues of tenure and affordability is key to the delivery of appropriate place-based housing solutions that will serve communities for generations to come.

Many of the actions in this plan will seek to address key challenges to enabling the delivery of more affordable homes, including availability of land, construction capacity, access to homes for key workers, as well as making best use of existing supply by addressing the high number of second homes and tackling empty properties.

The delivery of the actions can best be achieved in partnership. It will require commitment, collaboration, and dedication by a wide range of organisations and communities working together with the Scottish Government to deliver an increase in housing supply in remote, rural and island communities.