IT may be home to a large population of resident puffins - 50,000 in fact - but a new drive is being launched to boost the numbers of people living in the most remote inhabited island in the UK.

Located halfway between Orkney and Shetland, the Fair Isle is famous for its geometric and colourful knitwear as well as its local birdlife.

But levels of people have dropped to critically low levels, with only 55 living there now - the lowest level in several years.

Now there is a drive to look for 10 more people to join its windswept shores to help ensure its long-term viability.

An ambitious development plan for Fair Isle will be launched today in the Shetland capital of Lerwick to help tackle the problem.

The Fair Isle Community Association commissioned an independent consultant to explore the current challenges and identify a secure and sustainable future for the island, which is just three miles long and two miles wide.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Shetland Islands Council have helped finance the development plan entitled 'Securing Fair Isle's Future - A plan for Action.'

Fair Isle, which was once home to 400 people, is owned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). Most islanders have a croft, supplemented by a diversity of business activity.

Travel to Fair Isle is either a one and a half hour journey by boat, or half an hour by plane from the Shetland mainland and internet speeds are slow.

Islanders of all ages, stakeholders and wider diaspora were surveyed for ideas for the island's future.

The survey found islanders believed that to attract more people there had to be improved transport links; available property; guaranteed full-time employment; and more young people.

The plan's proposals include attracting up to 10 new people to the island in the next three to five years; building new houses and refurbishing empty properties; and improving the ferry service to the island.

Ten years ago the NTS had previously launched a search for new residents.

Tom Hyndman and his family from Saratoga Springs, New York, beat off international competition for one of the two houses offered for rent by the conservation charity. The other went to a family from Aberdeen.

Mr Hyndman had a hat-making business in the US, but since 2006 he has been running a guesthouse on Fair Isle. He still makes hats, paints as well and says he has never regretted his move to Fair Isle in 2006.

"I love it here," he said. "I would highly recommend it to the right people. For those with an adventurous soul and practical skills, it would be great place if they are looking for a change in their lives."

Another couple arrived just last month, but more are still needed.

Fiona Stirling, head of Strengthening Communities at HIE, said: "We have been working with the community association to support their plans to increase the population on the island."

The community is also supported by Community Broadband Scotland (CBS), a Scottish Government initiative, whose director, Mark Tate, said he had experienced first hand the frustrations caused by very slow internet speeds. CBS was working with the community and other agencies. "Delivering faster broadband to this iconic and beautiful island will have a transformational impact on the way people live, work and learn and support the Islands ambitious development plan."

Fiona Mitchell, chair of Fair Isle Community Association, said the production of the Development Plan had been a very positive process and residents were now looking forward to working with others to realise the aspirations of the community.

Fair Isle has been occupied since the Bronze Age. Around 400 were living there in 1900, but this has slowly been declining.

The island is also renowned for its birdlife and the presence of a bird observatory, with a brand new building opening in 2010, is seen as a key factor in ensuring Fair Isle remains a viable community.

Surrounded by rich fishing waters, a petition was launched in 2012 for Fair Isle to be designated as a Marine Protected Area.

The surrounding waters also hold a more dramatic history as the site of two shipwrecks: the Spanish Armada's El Gran Grifón in 1588 and the Canadian ship, Black Watch, in 1877.

There are two known Iron Age sites, a fort at Landberg and an early Christian settlement.

In 2012, the National Geographic released a book called The 10 Best of Everything, citing the Fair Isle as number five on the list of top 10 islands in the world.

Chosen by travel writer and author Leslie Thomas, it was joined by just one other from the UK, the Scilly Isles, which was in second place, and beat the likes of Tahiti and Capri.