Election 2021: In the penultimate part the series asking MSP candidates in the Caithness, Sutherland and Ross seat how they would tackle depopulation and housing shortages, Liberal Democrat candidate Molly Nolan gives us her views

The Liberal Democrats have made the far north seat one of their top priorities and it has seen local issues included in the party’s manifesto in an attempt to deal with some pressing issues. Now we ask Molly Nolan how she would deal with housing shortages and depopulation across the constituency.

Stark official numbers show that the constituency will over the next 10 years see its population depleted drastically unless action is taken.

So what is the solution?

She said: “Land reform and access to capital are both central to the question of affordable housing in the Highlands. I have been proud to contribute to policy development within the Scottish Liberal Democrats to tackle this issue, and I moved a motion, ‘Land reform for thriving rural communities,’ at our conference earlier this year.

“In the short term, the Scottish Government needs to cut the red tape and make it easier for communities to access the Rural Housing Fund and the Scottish Land Fund. For example, it has taken the dedicated Applecross community, from the point of first applying for Scottish Government funding, almost ten years to get a shovel into the ground.

“The number of families that have since left the area due to the housing shortage doesn’t bear thinking about. We are facing a demographic time bomb, yet the current centralised process is unsustainably slow.

“The development of a localised service to assist communities in securing land to meet housing demand – one that would coordinate with Highland Council, landowners, housing associations and community trusts – would also help streamline the process.

“For individuals, I would also like to see the Scottish Government institute a First Time Builders Fund, modelled on the First Time Home Fund, so that young buyers can get on the housing ladder in rural areas where there is no existing housing stock available for purchase.

“And taking action to dissuade people from buying up second homes and inflating their prices, particularly in areas where a large proportion of housing stock is already lived in for only a few weeks per year, has to be on the table too. The Scottish Government should devolve local taxation powers to local authorities, to allow them to set appropriate levies in parts of the Highlands where this is a problem.”

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