Islands with Small Populations Review Workshop
Purpose of Engagement
The Shetland Partnership are signed up to a Locality Plan to work together to improve the lives of everyone living on islands with small populations. A Locality Plan ensures that agencies and communities are working together to find solutions to local challenges. The communities of Fair Isle, Fetlar, Foula, Papa Stour and Skerries are all remote from Lerwick, and all have populations of fewer than 100. When the Locality Plan was produced, the populations were generally declining and ageing more rapidly than elsewhere in Shetland, whilst service providers were finding it challenging to recruit sufficiently qualified staff.
A workshop was carried out in June 2023, three years after the first plan. This brought together the representatives from the Islands with Small Populations Strategic Delivery group to review the Plan and its delivery, as it was time for it to be refreshed.
What was the desired outcome?
To bring islanders and services providers together, to reflect on what went well and gather feedback for a refreshed plan. It was hoped that this would open up further conversation on areas such as health care provision and transport and any feedback would be used in the plan. The overall outcome and vision is that people living within Shetland’s Islands with Small Populations can thrive and are actively influencing decisions on services and the use of resources (Shetland’s Islands with Small Populations: Second Locality Plan 2023).
What was already known?
The first Plan, developed and published in 2020, provided insights into its impact and highlighted the benefits of creating a refreshed version. Each island has unique needs and challenges; for example, some have local shops, while others rely on transport links for access to amenities. The workshop was a way of getting a more holistic view of the islands’ situations to inform the new plan.