SCOTLAND'S islands are facing a major de-population crisis, with births in the Western Isles now the lowest ever recorded.

The number of babies born last year at the Western Isles hospital fell to 143, compared to 188 just four years before, while 12 of the 29 islands of the Outer Hebrides have become officially uninhabited in the last half century.

While some areas have reported a boost in tourism, those coming to snap the white sandy beaches and wildlife for their social media pages do not settle and off-season, places return to their near deserted form.

Calls are now being made for urgent action by the government to help rebuild some of the country's most remote areas and help bring them back to life.

Rhoda Grant, Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, was born in Lewis and said that in order to attract and retain more people to the islands, jobs and housing must be prioritised.

She accused the Scottish Government of paying "lip service" to the country's remote communities without acting on promises to help.

Grant explained: "On government policy, they say they want re-population but they are a centralising government.

"The more you centralise, the more you take good quality jobs out of those areas. Anyone looking for a decent career is going to be forced out, and people are still being forced out now.

The Herald:

"I was born in Lewis and brought up in Wester Ross, that's a case in point. My mother told me I had to leave and if I wanted to come back I would be wasting her time and mine because there was no future for me there.

"She said 'There is nothing you'll do that will build a future and you need to go for your own sake.

"Who wouldn't choose to live in those beautiful places? But if there is no future for you, government has to create opportunities or nobody will go."

"It just appears to me that there is a lot of lip service but no action to do anything concrete."

A report published in 2018 showed Uist was bucking the trend, with a rise in younger people moving to the island to raise their families.

The number of the registered births on the island for 2015, 2016 and 2017 increased by 67 per cent, compared to the decade before and in December 2017 alone there were 13 babies born - compared to just 19 for the whole of 2007.

Despite the upswing here, official projections for other island communities are less positive, with a 13 per cent decline predicted for rural Lewis and Harris populations by 2026. Barra is also estimated to see a 17 per cent decline in its population by then too.

Along with good job opportunities, Grant said, there had to be investment in affordable housing, and sustainable transport methods.

The MSP said: "There is an issue about housing. In some areas you have people buying a second home and it is totally outbidding locals. There are huge problems with that in Skye and parts of Harris where second homes and Airbnb are the majority of the houses. If that is happening, how can locals stay? You need a well paid job to compete with that and you need some housing protection."

In 2018 the Scottish Government became only the second in the world to to introduce island-specific legislation, with the Islands (Scotland) Act passing in October 2018.

This has paved the way for research, currently;y being conducted across some of Scotland's 90 inhabited islands, in an attempt to find out what communities need to survive and thrive.

Scotland’s Islands Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “We recognise the challenge depopulation poses to a number of Scotland’s islands communities, while others are experiencing population growth. Last week the Scottish Government published the first National Islands Plan – an historic milestone that began with the passing of the Islands (Scotland) Act last year.

"The Plan provides a framework to improve outcomes for Scotland's island communities and sets out actions to address population decline, tackle climate change and improve transport, housing, the delivery of public services and digital connectivity. A key part of the process leading to the development of the Plan involved looking at successful islands policy interventions that have demonstrated good practice in helping retain and attract young people to communities.

“I now look forward to working with colleagues and partner organisations to put the National Islands Plan into action and see wider adoption of good practice.

"Through the plan’s development, Scotland is showing our island communities that they are very important to our nation, we care about their futures and that their voices are strong and being heard.”