Highlands and Islands; Enterprise?

"Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling, and spending their lives like serfs" Henry David Thoreau

Enterprise can be defined as a willingness to undertake new ventures; initiative, as well as being an industrious activity directed towards profit.

"Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is the Scottish Government’s economic and community development agency for a diverse region which covers more than half of Scotland.

HIE aims to build sustainable economic growth in all parts of the Highlands and Islands."

HIE states that it will deliver an integrated strategic approach as dictated by the Government's Economic Strategy; that includes:

"Strengthening communities, especially in the fragile parts of the area"

According to an item in the West Highland Free Press there appears to be some concern as to whether or not this is happening.

The Relocation of Inverness College (with £25 million of investment in a new education and business park) and the Scottish Agricultural College, along with a range of businesses, on farmland to the east of the city running hand-in-hand with plans by Highland Council to develop the A96 corridor out to Nairn, has sparked a range of criticism. The paper reports that the announcement that a huge chunk of HIE’s budget is to be spent on a prosperous area has drawn a furious reaction from the Western Isles, where the agency’s contribution in 2009 has so far amounted to just £350,000.

HIE defends its past record, and insists that the Inverness Campus project will benefit the region as a whole.

However this is not the first time that criticism has been levelled. In July 2008 the Press and Journal reported:

"Campaigners have warned of “another Highland Clearance” if planners press ahead with massive development between Inverness and Nairn during a period of national economic turmoil.

Pressure group Action for Planning Transparency (APT) wants independent consultants to review Highland Council’s ambitious proposals for creating businesses and three entire communities within the 15-mile stretch of the co-called A96 corridor."

An APT spokesperson said:

“The council must also look at a fairer distribution to avoid a repeat of a Highland Clearance – so people can stay where they want to stay and maintain a vibrancy throughout the whole of the Highlands.”

And the P and J also reported in March 2009 that, whilst delivering the fourth in a series of Stirling Lectures, Madhu Satsangi, a senior lecturer in housing studies at Stirling University, commented:

“Despite the good intentions of many, the big push has been to encourage growth in the larger cities instead, which means that community members migrate away from the rural Highlands,” he said. “I call it the Modern Day Clearances.” He also stated:

"Historically, we haven’t built sufficient housing to meet the demand in the social sector,” Mr Satsangi said. “One reason for this is the shortage of land available, much of which is held in the private sector and owned by large estates."

We are all supposed to be looking at the Main Issues facing Highland and how a Highland-wide Plan could address these issues. If we let this opportunity go by, well it would not be very enterprising of us, would it?