Smallholder to build a new village on Lewis

Senior Features Writer

Monday 23 July 2012

PLANS have been unveiled for a new village on Lewis, in an attempt to curb the island's declining population.

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TEDDY JAMIESON

Smallholder Finlay Macdonald, 59, is proposing 10 houses in Lochroag in the community of Uig in an attempt to stem the island's declining population.

With work on the access road due to begin as soon as this week, Mr Macdonald said he hoped to have erected his first house within a year.

He told The Herald: "I hope a year from now I will have started on the actual houses. Once I get my teeth into something it tends to happen."Mr Macdonald, who has cattle and sheep on his smallholding, has already built three holiday homes on the island. He added: "I want a small, vibrant little village for people who can be employed locally. It's about 25 minutes from Stornoway and only 10 minutes from the Uig community shop, so it seems like a perfect location."Initial plans will see him building 10 properties but there is room for more if required on the 20-acre site.Mr Macdonald is hoping a percentage of the houses – which will have two or three bedrooms and sit on up to half-an-acre of land – will be sold as affordable housing for young people. The village, which will be called Lochroagside, is in an area that was cleared of people in the 19th century. "Employment is a problem here and the population is decreasing all the time. I'm trying to put something back," he said.He was unwilling to put a figure on the investment required to build the houses but is currently seeking investors and will spend almost £30,000 on the road. Building costs on the island are inevitably greater than in the central belt because of transport costs.Housing is very much at a premium in the Western Isles. It emerged recently that plans to build 80 new social sector houses had been abandoned due to cuts in funding from the Scottish Government.A local council audit suggested 108 new homes were required over the next three years. The Western Isles council has been putting pressure on the Government to address the issue.

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Smallholder to build a new village on Lewis

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