Progress on the new Islands Bill took a step in the right direction last week after the first stage debate discussing a national islands plan took place at Holyrood, writes Colin Smeeton.
The Islands Bill seeks to ensure all public body and government policy decisions ‘have due regard’ to island communities when making decisions and makes it a statutory duty for the Scottish Government to produce a National Islands Plan on a regular basis.
The Bill which is aimed at tackling the issues that island communities face – such as transportation, access to medical facilities, cost of living and delivery charges among others – was proposed to alleviate the burden and disharmonious treatment of islanders.