Without shops, fuel supplies and post offices with banking facilities, will remote communities face further depopulation? The closure of the shop in Kilchoan follows a number of other closures of similar local assets in Lochaber and Argyll (‘Morrisons killed us’: Britain’s most westerly mainland village shop closes after half a century, 30 October). But is it a policy failure or just a case of market forces?
Nearly 50 years ago, a government-funded scheme offered a lifeline to communities that were keen to save key assets. A programme was initiated by the Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1977 as a way of supporting community-led development. It offered to match local financial contributions and provide practical support through an outreach team, of which I was a member. Tested in the Western Isles, by 1979 it was expanded to the rest of the Highlands and islands.
Such initiatives contributed to vital community wealth-building and supported community investment in revenue-generating activities. Today there are numerous active co-operatives that help to retain people and money in communities across the Highlands and Islands – but even they are operating in challenging conditions.
As Lochaber residents have seen, major retailers have extended home deliveries to remote households. If services are cut off, the economic base of an area inevitably declines. There is a case for public support for communities to maintain essential services, which helps stem depopulation – or is the plan for everyone to move to urban centres?
Chas Ball
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
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