The Community of Barra and Vatersay

Our vision recognises people as the key resource in Barra and Vatersay. Coimhearsnachd Bharraidh agus Bhatarsaidh aims to promote projects which will make Barra and Vatersay a better place for people to live and work. Community led development is at the heart of Iomairt aig an Oir and is the focus for Coimhearsnachd Bharraidh agus Bhatarsaidh.

Infrastructure

The standard of infrastructure in Barra and Vatersay continually lags behind that of communities lying closer to the populations centre. The scope for improvement is extensive and cannot be comprehensively covered in the space available. Fisheries - There are no berthing facilities of any kind in Castlebay, and those available in Northbay are exposed and unsuitable for small craft. There are currently two projects which aim to address this situation: • Northbay Inner Harbour Project - upgrade and extend the existing facilities. • Castlebay Fisheries Pier Projects - support development of new facilities for Castlebay. Housing - There are constraints in the provision of sites for both private and public sector housing. There are also constraints in the system for financing public sector building, which effectively ties it to road side sites. • Investigate means of by passing constraints. Transport - Connectivity between services continues to be a problem. There are issues with frequency, duration, cost, and security of service for all forms of transport. • Continually push for improvements in all aspects of services when the opportunity arises. Communications - In theory all communities can have access to broadband services, in reality there appears to be little drive to ensure this is the case. There is still no broadband for people on the north of the island. • Highlight the broadband issue both on the island and to the service providers. Electrical Grid - the grid was built to ensure we are supplied with sufficient power to meet our requirements. It was not envisioned that we would be capable of generating large amounts of power on Barra and the grid is built to reflect this. However renewable technologies favour our environment, and the restrictions on what we can put into the grid are a constraint on future generational potential for Barra and Vatersay.