HIE board visits the Outer Hebrides and confirms their continued commitment to the area

Following the launch of a Smart Successful Highlands and Islands (SSHI) earlier this month, the board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is today (Monday 27th June) visiting the Outer Hebrides to convey the Network's continued commitment to the area.

During their visit, board members will see first hand some of the challenges that the Western Isles continue to face, while also meeting with several successful business people, representatives from the voluntary sector and community groups.

HIE chairman William Roe and chief executive Sandy Cumming will be joined by board members, four of HIE's directors and representatives of Western Isles Enterprise (WIE). They will split into three groups in order to cover as much of the area as possible, from Barra to Lewis.

Board members will visit Arnish Point, where they will see the £9 million upgrade of the brownfield site from a single-user oil fabrication yard to a modern multi-user, multi purpose business park.

They will also meet Phil Smith, director of CamCal, who recently announced that they had been chosen by Ocean Power Delivery (POD) to fabricate equipment for the world's first commercial wave farm.

A visit to Sir E Scott School to see the renewable energy solar UPV panels installed in the school's sports centre is also planned. There, they will also hear more about the Connected Communities project led by HIE and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (CnES), which will bring new generation broadband to all communities in areas where BT is not upgrading exchanges or is unable to provide the higher bandwidth required.

Chief executive of WIE, Donnie Macaulay said: "The HIE board will see many success stories during their visit, but will also consider some of the challenges we face, such as attracting tenants into the newly-upgraded Arnish Point, finding an alternative use for the Stolt fish processing factory in Scalpay, which closed in May, and the continued challenge of regenerating our more rural areas."
 
The HIE network, with CnES and other community planning partners recently launched the joint economic regeneration strategy Creating Communities of the Future, which along with HIE's newly-published SSHI strategy highlights the knowledge economy as a significant area for development in the Western Isles.

The potential of this technology is demonstrated at HIE's data centre at Lionacleit, Benbecula, where much of the Network's administration, including all of the Network's payments, is undertaken by a team of 20 co-housed with WIE and Careers Scotland staff.

William Roe said: "The data centre in Lionacleit has been a huge success story for the Network and the local community. We would like to see more jobs dispersal opportunities like these for the Western Isles and indeed other rural parts of the Highlands and Islands.

"Now that we have the technology, we believe there will be great opportunities in e-commerce for the Western Isles, and we will be focusing our efforts on ensuring that businesses and communities make full use of the potential this technology can bring."

Mr Roe also emphasised the Network's continued commitment to the Western Isles through the formula share which targets resources to the more fragile areas, taking into account both the population and level of need in an area. The Western Isles has 6.1 per cent of the Highlands and Islands population, but will receive12.9 per cent of the budget.

"The Western Isles remains a priority area for the Network," he said. "But as we will see from our board visit, while there are significant challenges, there is also a great deal for this area to feel optimistic about. The potential for development in broadband, the renewables sector and community land ownership are just some of the reasons the community has to feel confident about the future of the economy."