• UPDATE: Since this story was published this morning (Friday), Comhairle nan Eilean Siar have confirmed John Cunningham’s departure. A spokesperson for CnES said: “After over 37 years of service to the Comhairle, Mr Cunningham has attained retirement age and retires from the Comhairle on 6 November 2026.”

Reports were rife this week that John Cunningham, Chief Planning Officer with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, has resigned from his post.

Multiple sources have reported that Mr Cunningham has given three months notice and will be taking early retirement.

I have sought confirmation of Mr Cunningham’s resignation with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar on the reported resignation and am waiting for a reply.

(Edit: After initially refusing to comment, the Comhairle provided a statement confirming Mr Cunningham’s retirement in response to welovestornoway.com’s decision to pick up the story.)

However, the news has been circulating widely in the community, particularly among people with connections to planning and energy matters, since early in the week – and been confirmed to me by two different councillors at the local authority.

Mr Cunningham was recently at the centre of a controversy over the proposed N4 Spiorad na Mara wind farm, following an email apology that he made to the Barvas Estate Trust for misrepresenting community views on the development in a report.

I have written more about that story, and the broader issue of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s position on the proposed wind farm and its recent objections to it, in a previous piece.

That piece, entitled The N4 Planning Story and published two weeks ago on Substack, has had well over 1,000 views so far and sparked some discussion.

I am not suggesting – at all – that Mr Cunnigham’s decision to resign from the Comhairle has anything to do with that story. Far from it. I am referencing that Substack story for context.

It must be reported, today, that the comments I am hearing from councillors are largely ones of regret and concern around Mr Cunningham’s departure.

‘Swamped’

There is concern about Comhairle nan Eilean losing such a senior official, with extensive experience and knowledge of planning and the renewables sector, at such a critical time.

One told me he would be “very sorry” to see Mr Cunningham go and expressed fears that the existing pressures on planning staff would increase.

He feared that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar could find itself “swamped” and unable to handle the workload that is going to be created by the rapid expansion of the renewables sector and the multiple planning applications it would have to handle simultaneously.

He said there was widespread shock when the news broke of Mr Cunningham’s resignation on Monday, following an initial email to senior members from Anne Murray, Chief Officer for Economic and Community Regeneration.

The councillor told me: “I’ve asked around and lots of people are asking questions but nobody knows why he’s done that (resigned).”

He continued: “It certainly creates a massive problem for the council because this is a very important post, especially with what we’re going through at the moment and finding people with his qualifications and knowledge is not going to be easy.

“To the best of my knowledge, there’s nobody else in the council with John’s knowledge and background.”

‘Long hours’

In terms of the workload, he said: “There’s so much coming in with planning, with all these things that are related to the renewables things and there’s all the day to day things (as well).

“We don’t have a lot of planning officers. The fact they are managing to keep their heads above water is quite amazing. Some of them must be working pretty long hours.”

He sounded a warning over the “enormous” pressures that planning officers would now be under and called from support from Scottish Government for the Comhairle as it battles to manage the multitude of planning and development matters.

The N4 Spiorad na Mara offshore application alone had come with 40 documents that all had to be read and assessed.

The situation around planning applications and wind farms has become even more complicated too, this year, due to a ruling made by the Inner House of the Court of Session in February in the case of Raeshaw Farms Limited v Scottish Ministers.

This is a legally complex case relating to renewable developments and related to decisions made in the planning process surrounding an eight-turbine wind farm and its associated infrastructure.

Planning permission had been granted for the wind farm, on appeal, but the big news was that Court of Session quashed that decision in February and remitted the decision back to the Scottish Ministers for a different reporter to retake the decision.

Consent

When researching this online, I found the following explanation of the Court’s findings – on the website for International Law Firm CMS – to be particularly useful.

“The Court held that the reporter, in deciding to grant consent, had erred in failing to consider whether the wind farm and grid connection constituted one project for the purposes of Environmental Impact Assessments.

“The Court also held that there was force in the argument that it was irrational to take the benefits fo a connected, operational wind farm into account without also addressing potential adverse impacts of the grid connection.”

It is really complex stuff, with legal and planning experts subsequently poring over the case and examining its implications from multiple angles.

But, given the existence of Case Law in Scotland, where the higher courts set legal precedents, it is safe to say that planning authorities dealing with split applications will now have to bear the Raeshaw Court of Session case in mind – as if they don’t have enough to think about.

Incidentally, the N4 Spiorad na Mara application is a split application, with the offshore elements being decided at Government level and the onshore elements to be determined by the Comhairle.

Planning officer Morag Ferguson was asked about the case during her presentation of the report recommending the council object to Government over N4. She said she would have ‘preferred’ to have seen just the one planning application for the whole development.

Looking at the Comhairle’s renewables planning workload as a whole, the councillor said: “No doubt about it, the council doesn’t have the officers to deal with it.

“It’s not going to be an easy thing at all and I’m really quite concerned about it.”

He said there had been “no back up” from Scottish Government when the Comhairle went to them, to say they did not have the staff for this.

The councillor also raised concerns about a lack of agency.

He highlighted the presence of the then Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, breaking ground on the £7million development of the Arnish Road, as a sign of the Scottish Government’s direction of travel on renewables – the “only reason”, he claimed, that road got such an upgrade.

“All these things are part of a plan,” he said, and we in the islands were having “things done to us, not things done for us”.

He added: “It’s not a good situation that we are in at all just now. I’m disappointed that we are where we are and I’m very disappointed to see John Cunningham going.

“People like John Cunningham know people all over Scotland that you can talk to.”

“He was a good officer.”

Campaigners opposed to the N4 Spiorad na Mara wind farm are urging objectors to get their submissions in to the planning department before the public consultation closes.

The Eilean mo Ghaoil group are reminding people this is “the final push” for objections to the onshore transmission works for N4 Spiorad na Mara, off the west coast of Lewis.

The deadline for objections is tomorrow (Wednesday, 12 August) and Eilean mo Ghaoil want to send a message that Lewis is “closed to exploitative business”.

In their Facebook appeal, they said: “Help us send a clear message to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and governments far beyond our shores that the Isle of Lewis is closed.

“Closed to exploitation.

“Closed to imperialists dictating what we do or don’t do, without our consent.

“Closed to those who see our land and seas as assets to be bought, extracted and profited from.

“Closed to developments that put profits before people and the environment, and outside interests before the long-term future of our island.

“The direction of the Isle of Lewis, our land, our seas, our culture and our traditions should be in the hands of the people who live here.

“Our future should not be determined by multinational companies and governments sitting in offices far away.”

To make objections easier, people can use the Object Now objection tool, available online.

This tool – https://object.now/spiorad-na-mara-transmission-works/ – relates to the public consultation for the onshore transmission works.

The public consultation for the offshore elements of the wind farm – including the turbines themselves – has already been done.

Eilean mo Ghaoil said the onshore elements will “introduce major energy infrastructure across environmentally sensitive landscapes, including peatland, crofting land and protected habitats.”

The graphics featured below are from the Eilean mo Ghaoil campaign.

They urged: “This is your opportunity to have your say. By submitting an objection, you can help ensure the planning authority fully considers the environmental, community and planning impacts of the proposal before any decision is made.”

If approved, N4 Spiorad na Mara, which is being developed by Canadian-based Northland and ESB, would have up to 60 wind turbines, each up to 338 metres above sea level. The site was identified as N4 in the ScotWind lease and the project named Spiorad na Mara by Northland.

The closest ones would be around 6km from land and would feature prominently in the views from multiple places of historic and cultural importance and natural beauty.

The planning application currently on the table is entirely separate to the application process for the offshore elements of the wind farm, which is still being decided, following public consultation.

The offshore elements will be decided by Scottish Government, who have confirmed they received “a significant number of representations” in relation to the application.

They would not give an exact figure while the validation process was ongoing.

However, they did reveal “the volume of representations received is higher than would ordinarily be expected for applications of this nature”.

This was disclosed to me exclusively, following a Freedom of Information request about the number of objections received.

Campaigners will be hoping for a similar show of strength of feeling in representations to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar about the onshore application.

The onshore elements comprise the landfall cabling, a potential landfall substation on land – there is another option for a substation offshore – plus cross-island cabling and a grid substation.

Campaigners said the cable route would “carve up the Barvas moor”, cut across multiple common grazings and legally-protected crofting land, and cause major traffic disruption. There is also the issue of carbon release from opening peatland.

These substations are also totally separate to SSEN’s proposed Lewis hub, to support the interconnector.

All eyes will be on the Comhairle as it takes a view on the onshore elements, following the shock in June when the local authority agreed to object to government about the offshore elements.

This surprised many in the community who believed the Comhairle has historically pushed for the N4 site to be developed for offshore renewables.

Critics point to the Comhairle’s submission to the Scottish Government’s Draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (2020) as part of the reason for this impression.

The Comhairle’s submission stated: “The local population is therefore prepared for, and supportive of, large scale deployment of Offshore Wind off Lewis and has not reacted negatively to the potential visual impact in the way other coastal regions in Scotland have.

“It is noted that DPO N4 is located relatively close to shore and may present a relatively higher visual impact than other DPO’s.

“Notwithstanding, the Comhairle urges Marine Scotland to retain and promote DPO N4 to connect to Grid infrastructure on Lewis…

“The local population has accepted the considerable visual impact of these Onshore deployment on the tacit understanding that the next generation of energy production will be in the marine environment.”

It also said: “The islands are currently suffering from chronic loss of working population, many of them to work in the energy industry in the North Sea and across the globe. A sizeable Offshore Wind industry, connected to and serviced from the islands, will bring many of these workers home and will transform the island Supply Chain.

“The Comhairle therefore strongly support DPO N4 because it will kick start the island supply chain and provide much needed jobs and benefits to the local population.”

The submission was in the name of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar as an organisation.

Meanwhile, the Comhairle’s chief planning officer, John Cunningham, has come under pressure for misrepresenting community views on the N4 site and having to apologise for doing so.

He sent an email apology to Urras Oighreachd Bharabhais (Barvas Estate Trust) for misrepresenting their position on N4 in a report to the Sustainable Development Committee. It was before Mr Cunningham was promoted to the post of chief planning officer.

The email was sent to David Macmillan, chair of the Barvas Estate Trust, on 1 July 2022, and entitled: “Community Position Statement on ScotWind N4”.

‘So sorry’

In the email, Mr Cunningham said: “I have to apologise to you for that Sustainable Development Committee gaffe which will have landed you in a good deal of hassle. I hadn’t realised that I had said that in the report regarding the MoU being ‘a signal of community support’ but I checked the text immediately after our meeting and there it was in black and white!

“So sorry for causing you and your Trustees all that trouble. I’ll need to sharpen up my act in the future.”

The fact someone from the Comhairle had apologised for misrepresenting community support was included by Barvas Estate Trust in their submission to Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate over the offshore aspects of N4 Spiorad na Mara.

The Barvas submission, including this revelation, was shared on social media in May this year.

They said: “Our local authority has since admitted and apologised that they had misrepresented these communities by stating to the Scottish Government that there was no objection from local communities to the proximity of N4 location and the communities were in favour.”

I followed up on this claim with a piece on Substack, which sparked discussion.

The Stornoway Gazette sought a response from the Comhairle, who issued a denial.

A spokesman said: “The Comhairle followed due process throughout the consultation process and has not issued any apologies in relation to any claims that it misrepresented communities to the Scottish Government.”

In an exchange just yesterday (Monday), the Comhairle spokesman acknowledged an apologetic email did exist and there had been “a recent discussion” with Barvas about the matter.

But he insisted the Comhairle’s denial, published in the Gazette on May 14, was “wholly accurate” as Barvas had claimed there was an apology about making misrepresentations to government – but Mr Cunningham had apologised about making misrepresentations in a council report.

“It was in relation to the wording of a statement within a sustainable development report… there was no intention behind it.”

However, some remain sceptical about this defence, particularly given the Comhairle’s submission to the Draft Sectoral Marine Plan.

One objector in Barvas, wishing to remain anonymous, dismissed the distinction as splitting hairs and said the Comhairle denial had been too literal, failing to address the general problem.

He said: “The Comhairle have been sailing too close to the wind on ScotWind and N4 for years.”

Eilean mo Ghaoil, who commissioned a community survey that found 88 per cent opposition to N4 Spiorad na Mara, took a similar view.

A spokesperson said: “We have consistently asserted that the community’s views have been misrepresented by the Comhairle and have published the Comhairle’s responses to the Scottish Government’s Draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy

“The communities of the west side of Lewis had no formal role in the ScotWind leasing process and were not consulted before the N4 area was identified and leased.

“Yet the Comhairle consistently maintained that the community was supportive of offshore wind development.

“The communities of the west side of lewis are entitled to a planning process that is transparent, independent and genuinely accountable to those whose landscape, livelihoods, and heritage are most directly affected.”

Heritage

Given the history, the Comhairle’s vote on 25 June suprised many, where councillors agreed to officially object to the offshore elements of N4 Spiorad na Mara in the government consultation.

They were agreeing the recommendation in a planning report, brought in the name of chief executive Martin Joyce and presented to councillors by planning officer Morag Ferguson.

Her presentation during the full council meeting cited “significant effects” on multiple heritage assets and scenic areas, due to the visual impact of the turbines.

These included Arnol blackhouse, where the wind farm will be “in full view” as people approach or exit the blackhouse.

“The heritage impact assessment did not conclude significant effects for that heritage asset and we would disagree with that assessment,” she said.

She also spoke about the visual impact at Reef, a site within the National Scenic Area.

“It’s also a very popular beach for visitors – a lovely beach – and also very important to tourism and residents in the Uig area.”

From Gallan Head, the wind farm will be visible “in its entirety”.

And at Dalmore, the wind farm will fill the entire view from the beach, with the height of the turbines competing with the height of the cliffs on either side.

Concerns

Following a brief discussion, councillors voted to approve the recommendation to raise strong concerns about the adequacy of the Environmental Impact Assessment report and to object to all three applications relating to the offshore part of N4 Spiorad na Mara.

The recommendation was also to consider that the significance of effect was “so great that the proposed development would fail to meet the requirement of The Electricity Act 1989”.

The recommendation identified “likely significant adverse effects on seascape, landscape and visual amenity and on the historic environment resources of the planning authority area”.

It concluded: “These significant adverse effects are such that they are considered to outweigh any positive contribution to renewable energy generation and climate change targets.”

After the presentation and vote, Comhairle convener Kenny Macleod thanked Morag Ferguson and the planning team for “the hard work” that had gone into the “very detailed report” and taken up “a lot of the department’s time over the past few months”.

That hard work is not over yet.

A work update… I have officially left the Stornoway Gazette and parent company Iconic Media Group after nearly two years.

A massive thank you to all those readers of the Gazette who have shared their stories with me during this time and often trusted me to keep their identities secret too.

Thank you, most sincerely, to everyone who trusted me.

There have been some great stories over the past couple of years. Too many to list, even the top 10, so I’m not going to try, but there are a few significant moments that I want to mention.

Securing an interview with Stornoway’s very own Stephen Libby the week he won The Traitors – watched by 9.6million on TV – was very special.

I interviewed him over the phone, in my car outside Stornoway Sheriff Court, during a lunchtime break from court proceedings. We only had about 15 minutes and I had secured the interview by getting in touch with his dad, Donald, on messenger.

As any journalist will tell you, contacts are everything!

Anyway, when we got on the line it was obvious right away that Stephen (pictured below) was as pleasant in real life as he appeared to be on the telly.

“Stephen! I am so excited to speak with you!”

“Katie… I am so excited to speak with you!”

I find it unlikely that he actually was as excited to speak to me as I was to speak to him, given the week he was having, but it was really nice and gracious of him to say so.

The interview was lovely and made a very satisfying front page story for me, and The Scotsman also picked it up as the cover story for that weekend’s supplement.

Another interview that stands out in my mind – and is probably the most memorable of my time at the Gazette – was the one I did with Norman ‘Nam’ Macleod a year ago, about the night he saved the lives of two Spanish fisherman.

Nam welcomed me into the home he shares with wife Alison and told the story of the events of the night of 29 November 2023, which subsequently saw him and his crew receive multiple awards.

These included Technical Rescue of the Year in the Global Search and Rescue Awards and Nam himself won the Emergency Services award at the Daily Record’s Pride of Scotland awards.

The fisherman had suffered catastrophic injuries – one had lost a leg completely – after being dragged into the winching mechanism of the fishing boat.

The HM Coastguard Search and Rescue Crew, based in Stornoway, were called to help and Nam was very generous and open in sharing his story with me.

Nam shared the “brutal” story in detail and spoke of it as a “career defining event”, one that defined the whole 30 years of his career as a paramedic, up to that point.

I came away from that interview deeply conscious of how intrusive we can be as journalists. Any story is only ever as good as the questions you ask and sometimes our questions can ask people to open up a whole box of pain, that they might have been trying to keep tightly shut.

We have to be so careful when we ask people to revisit these places in their mind.

I appreciate Nam being willing to do that. He told me afterwards that reading my article had made him feel surprisingly emotional.

Sometimes I think that interview with Nam (pictured below, in action) might have been my own career defining event, as the story went on to get its own recognition too.

I was shortlisted for Feature of the Year at the Highlands and Islands Media Awards in February this year for a portfolio including that interview and two other pieces.

Those pieces were an interview with Malcolm Macdonald, chair of Stornoway Historical Society, on his work to discover the missing names from the Lewis War Memorial, and an interview with ice climber Oz Miller on his decision to retire from international competition.

I didn’t win the award, in the end, but it was an honour to be shortlisted and I got some great feedback on my work from one of the judges, who kindly hosted myself and my pal Shona – my usual sidekick at such events – at the glamorous bash in the Kingsmills in Inverness.

The third story that stands out prominently as I look back on my time at the Gazette was a jury trial I covered as part of my remit as court reporter. I had never covered a jury trial before.

This was the trial of a man charged with the domestic abuse of his partner in a course of conduct that lasted several years.

His trial lasted five days and he would eventually be sentenced to three years for the abuse and a further year for threatening and abusive behaviour towards police who were involved in the case.

Jailing him, the sheriff told him the charges were “of the most serious kind”, and the fact we had covered the case was broadly welcomed, particularly as it coincided with ’16 days of activism’ in the campaign against violence against women.

The experience of working as a court reporter for the Gazette is one of the most valuable experiences that I will take away from my time at the paper.

Court reporting is a potential minefield and you need to know your stuff.

You also need to be able to take good notes in the courtroom as recording devices are strictly banned and this meant I had to finally – after dodging it for years – knuckle down and get my shorthand up to speed.

The parent company, Iconic Media Group, were really good at providing training and signed me up to an online shorthand class every Thursday with the lovely Jack Shennan.

With Jack’s help, and through hours and hours of laborious practice and drills, I came through two shorthand exams. I passed my 60 words per minute and then my 100 words per minute – both with 100 per cent accuracy, which I was delighted about.

In the practice of covering proceedings at Stornoway Sheriff Court, I like to think we did a reasonably good job of discerning what stories to cover and what stories to leave alone. I was once advised that we should not cover stories where “the damage to the individual from publication would be greater than the public interest – which is not the same as the public curiosity”.

In the absence of any other hard and fast rule about what to cover and what not to cover, it’s not a bad rule of thumb. And, I have to say, I believe in the principle of keeping some level of media coverage of court proceedings, even at a local level.

I’m not talking about the minutiae from back in the day. I still remember “man walks down middle of road” being an actual headline of an actual story in the Gazette, once upon a time. Presumably it was a breach of the peace.

And there was another time the Gazette reported the theft of a plant pot. The reporter referenced the “green fingered thief” with glee.

We have moved on. But certain cases – drug dealing, for example – should surely still be reported.

It is a key principle of court reporting that justice is not only done but is seen to be done – and that is where the media come in.

It takes skills, though, and that can require even time-served journalists, like me, to get skilled up.

My qualification in shorthand is one part of a wider qualification that I have been working my way through, backed by Iconic Media.

Learning is a lifelong thing and I was encouraged to embark on the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism by my shorthand tutor, who advised it would be valuable to my career.

That is despite having previously worked at national level (a news sub-editor at the Daily Record, latterly) and being an award winner (Top Story of the Year, in the 2017 Highlands and Islands Media Awards).

A very blurry picture of that awards night, for the craic…

This diploma, run by the National Council for Training of Journalists, is considered to give you the base of skills you need to work as a professional journalist.

My dad thinks it is quite funny that, after nearly 30 years a journalist, I am finally officially learning how to be one. Others will no doubt say I’d better keep learning…

I have found the core textbook on the diploma – Essential Journalism – to be an interesting, informative and encouraging read.

I have been working from home while at the Gazette and that can lead to quite a sense of isolation.

To read through this textbook, and read about journalists, about what kind of people they are and the principles they should be guided by, actually made me feel less alone while I was working at the Gazette.

It gave me a sense that I was still connected to my tribe – these journalists who want to tell the stories of people without the power or the platform to tell their stories or who don’t have the privilege of amplifying the causes they care about.

The Essential Journalism textbook details the moral obligations upon journalists.

Journalists should be people who work in the public interest, who hold power to account, and who differentiate between fact and opinion.

It details the types of people that journalists should be. What personal qualities they should have, if they are to go about their business in an ethical way.

The list of essential qualities includes being accurate, articulate, curious, desiring to tell stories and having an interest in people – “having a strong interest in what makes them tick”.

The desirable qualities includes being tenacious and resilient, motivated, courageous, questioning, outgoing, and empathetic.

I have marked the page where it said: “Good reporters have a strong sense of natural justice. They instinctively back the little person against authority, get angry at unfair treatment and want to give a voice to people who cannot speak up for themselves for whatever reason.”

I also marked the page where it spoke about the importance of being sceptical.

“A healthy mistrust of people in authority – politicians, spokespeople, press officers and so on – is crucial. All these people have agendas: ask yourself what those agendas are, and why they might be saying what they are saying. Do not take anything at face value. Question it.”

You could call that ‘critical thinking’.

On the subject of scepticism, the writer goes on to warn the journalist against becoming too cynical and cited an oft-quoted maxim, attributed to foreign correspondent Louis Here but sometimes also to Jeremy Paxman, as evidence of what can happen to your outlook if you become too cynical.

It goes: “When a politician tells you something in confidence, always ask yourself: why is this lying bastard lying to me?”

Far be it from me to suggest all politicians are lying bastards – and obviously we want to guard ourselves against becoming hard-bitten cynics – but that’s a good line.

Highly memorable and too good not to share. And it made for an entertaining moment in a course that I am finding rewarding, even at this stage in my career.

I will keep going with the diploma, as I start a new chapter, which will include continued writing on Substack.

As I leave the Gazette, I wish the paper well.

For me, I am excited about what the future holds.

Hello and welcome back to my newsletter about things that are happening in the islands – the informative, interesting and inspiring.

This week’s topic is a deep dive into personnel issues within two NHS Western Isles directorates: Public Health and Dental.

Directorates led by Colum Durkan and Joanne Bark, respectively.

This piece is based on research I did for my day job as a senior journalist at a local newspaper and that research included interviews with multiple NHS staff, past and present.

Initially, before I started getting into the data, I was hearing stories about staff who were unsettled and unhappy in their work.

Then I began hearing of staff leaving their posts. Some were taking early retirement and a big hit to their pension with that decision to ‘go early’.

Others were just walking away.

Highly-qualified and experienced people were pulling the plugs on careers built up over decades that they were passionate about.

Morale was at rock bottom.

Getting into the nitty gritty, the first story I got into the news related to Dental. This story was about how the two long-serving dentists in the Uists both quit within weeks of each other.

When this story emerged it prompted big questions about management – and the ramifications are still being felt today. Discussions are understood to be ongoing at various levels about how to progress the conversation and heal staff wounds.

The resignations of both Iain McKinnon and John Jolly late last year, with their decades of experience between them, were said to have stemmed from contractual problems.

Mr McKinnon was reported to be taking up a new NHS job elsewhere, with multiple unconfirmed reports that NHS Western Isles refused to accommodate requests for more family-friendly terms.

Mr Jolly’s resignation was said to be connected to the creation of a new post of senior dental officer as part of the process of ‘organisational change’.

That post was advertised internally but there were no successful candidates at interview. The post subsequently went out to external advert. Mr Jolly quit shortly after the internal process.

At the time, NHS Western Isles confirmed it was seeking locums to fill the gap and questions were asked about whether it had been accommodating enough to its existing dentists – especially given the difficulty to ‘recruit and retain’ staff in remote and rural areas such as ours.

At the time we reported the two dentists had quit, a source within Dental said their service had gone from being stable for years to going into crisis “all of a sudden”.

My second story was based on figures I obtained recently from NHS Western Isles in a Freedom of Information request. The figures showed a big rise in sickness absence over the past few years in the Public Health directorate.

I should say at this point that, in the course of building these two stories, I spoke with multiple sources at NHS Western Isles and did in-depth interviews with five of them.

All wanted to be anonymous, for fear of repercussions if they were caught talking to the press.

Many of them described the situations at work and the management style of their directors in very similar terms. Their experiences aligned with each other and gave great credibility to their claims.

In law or in journalism, you need to have two people saying the same thing for corroboration. With five sources all singing from the same hymn sheet, these stories were well corroborated.

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And it was these stories that led me to go looking for the data.

So what did I get from my Freedom of Information request to NHS Western Isles?

The data showed the number of days lost to sickness across Public Health rose more than four times from 237 to 1064 between the years 2024/25 and 2025/26.

These figures coincided with Colum Durkan coming into post in 2024.

The sickness was accompanied by a rise of nearly five times the cost of sickness from £41,672 to £199,326 for the same period – although staff sources have since said that figure could be higher.

This is because the calculated costs were based on a mid-point band five post.

The data also showed absences were most notable among more senior staff, with around half of the absences being from staff in band six posts or above.

Staff absence from staff in band six or above posts went up from 17 to 37 between 2024/25 and 2025/26.

This aligned with claims made by staff that the employees being most impacted were the more senior ones – those directly reporting to Mr Durkan or being line managed by him.

The Public Health Directorate is made up of four departments: Health Promotion, Information Technology, Public Health and the Public Health Intelligence & Info Service.

In the Public Health Intelligence and Information Service department of the directorate, the number of sickness days rose more than 10 times from 30 to 336 between 2024/5 and 25/26.

Health Promotion sickness days rose from 181 to 440. Information Technology sickness days rose from 14 to 79. Sickness within the Public Health department itself rose from 12 to 209.

Meanwhile, despite the steep rises in sickness days and costs, the number of staff employed within Public Health over this period changed only slightly, going from 36.25 in 2025 to 41.46 in 2026.

The rising sickness trend was not mirrored in other NHS Western Isles directorates.

For comparison’s sake, other data showed a slight increase in sickness in other directorates, rising from 19,691 sickness days to 20,750, with the costs going up from £3.4million to £3.8million.

Across these other directorates, the number of staff employed, calculated on a whole time equivalent basis, increased slightly from 867.29 to 873.65 between 2024/25 to 2025/26.

So small changes. Nothing like those seen in Public Health.

A former member of staff within Public Health said: “The findings are definitely significant. It’s about regime change and new styles of management coming in.”

They urged the leadership of NHS Western Isles to address the problem, “difficult as it may be”, and said staff had clearly been “either sidelined, sidetracked or not listened to”, during the period of organisational change.

The problem was now “in the pile of things that are too difficult to deal with”.

Anecdotally, the stories from staff have been very similar.

One described interactions with Mr Durkan as being “like dealing with Trump”.

Another said the issue was not being addressed “because HR don’t want to admit they’ve hired a dud”.

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A spokesperson for NHS Western Isles responded: “We do not agree that there is, or recognise, a staffing establishment crisis in our Public Health Department. During 2024, the Director of Public Health reviewed the structures and systems, and an organisational change process was completed.

“The figures released under FOI provide a snapshot of workforce data over a defined period, but they do not, in themselves, explain the reasons behind the data.

“Drawing conclusions about causation – including linking variations in sickness absence to a particular individual or point in time – is not possible without a much fuller analysis that considers a wide range of contextual factors.”

They also said: “We continue to keep workforce data under regular review and to support staff wellbeing and service sustainability across all our services.”

Nothing heavy from my peatstack (as my nearest and dearest have nicknamed it) this week… just a few wee cultural moments from the island that I thought were worth a mention in despatches.

Wee superstars at Wee Studio

One story is about the very talented youngsters of the Lewis and Harris Youth PIpe Band who were in a recording studio for the first time ever last weekend – and laid down a cracking recording of the freestyle medley they performed at the Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships earlier this year.

They were in Wee Studio with music man Keith Morrison who recorded the number and also captured them on video, to the delight of many who saw it on social media.

Keith is also the topic of the second story worth sharing this week – which is his opening of a new community music base in Stornoway, geared to giving genuine grassroots support to the local music scene.

And finally, did you know that a book set in the Isle of Harris has been selected by Oprah’s Book Club and is set for huge global sales as a result? Well, you do now!

That book is John of John by Douglas Stuart, author of Booker prize winner Shuggie Bain and Stuart will be in Stornoway later this month to discuss that very same book with another acclaimed author, this time a home-grown one, Kevin MacNeil.

But back to the pipe band first of all and that video.

Sharing it on his social media, Keith from Wee Studio said: “Had some superstars in the studio yesterday. HOW COOL IS THIS?”

There was traditional Gaelic song, backed by guitars and keys, pipes and drums, clarsach, plenty more pipes and drums, and then a number on electric guitar.

It had a big theme of ‘home’, beginning with The Iolaire by Calum Martin, sung by two Eilidhs, and went into two pipe tunes by PM Donald MacLeod from Lewis – Malcolm Ferguson and Donald Maclean of Lewis – and closing out with the best cover I have seen yet of Peat & Diesel’s Island.

That was brought home by youngster Toby on electric guitar and vocals – grandson of musician Tosh, for the benefit of the readers with local knowledge of who’s who.

Cool it certainly was. Right down to their shades.

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Afterwards, band director Ashley MacDonald said: “It was an absolutely incredible experience sharing the recording studio with none other than Wee Studio’s finest Keith Morrison.

“From the moment we stepped into the studio, he made the entire experience feel truly unique and unforgettable, and to top it all off, he brought this full video together perfectly.”

She added: “There aren’t enough words to express how grateful we are for these amazing young people. Watching them grow over the years – and seeing them blossom into true artists – has been nothing short of inspiring. They are all multitalented, passionate and dedicated to the band, and being part of their journey has meant more than we could put into words.

“They are our wee superstars. Thank you to everyone that helped us to make this happen.”

For his part, Keith was “delighted to do my bit” and roped in Innes Scott from the cultural phenomenon that is Peat & Diesel – his son Robbie was on the drum kit too – to help out.

For context, Keith manages, produces and generally looks after Peat & Diesel, who are signed to his Wee Studio Records label, and has played a significant part in their success.

Keith and Innes made sure the band were wired for sound and worked the cameras.

Afterwards, Keith said there were “so many good reasons to do this and help the youth pipe band” which he described as “an incredible project” that is supported by many talented people.

He added it was “nice to hear the pipe band cover a Peat & Diesel song”.

And he pledged this was the start of a “partnership between Wee Studio and the Youth Pipe Band” and there would be a lot more to come in the future.

“It was the first time most of the young musicians had been in the studio too. Great for inspiring them and hopefully we will have them up working on music for years and years to come!”

Meantime, the youth pipe band announced they will be resuming their popular summer season open air performances in Stornoway from now on – provided the sun is out!

They will be playing in Perceval Square every Friday between 4 and 4.30pm, weather permitting, so it is quite possible that they won’t be starting this week, given the forecast.

New music space in the heart of Stornoway

After finishing his project with the youth pipe band, Keith continued to be very busy this week, with recording sessions in the diary with the Old Blind Dogs – “I love them; they are legends” – ahead of their gig in An Lanntair on Saturday.

And he was busy preparing for the big open day of his new grassroots community venture in Stornoway on Saturday – a totally different set up to his state-of-the-art recording facility in Ness.

The Stornoway Music Development Centre is aimed at giving the local music scene whatever it needs to flourish, basically, and is opening to give the public the chance for a good look round and a conversation on Saturday (16 May) from 10am till 12noon.

The centre is on 4a Inaclete Road, beside Aladdin’s Cave.

It is described as “a new space for all musicians including anyone wanting to start their musical journey from scratch, bands, tutors and aspiring sound engineers”.

It has rooms for hire for music rehearsals, tutoring, workshops and DIY recording, although anyone wanting to use the recording facilities will need to bring their own laptop to connect up.

Keith said: “Pop in, have a look round and say hi to me and DC! We’d love to see you and get the craic. Come on down!”

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On a more formal note, Keith has also launched a community consultation to get an improved understanding of what people feel is missing in terms of musical facilities and support, locally.

He says the feedback “will help shape further music development opportunities in the area” and you can find a link to that consultation via stornowaymusicdevelopmentcentre.co.uk

Keith’s aim is for the centre to be a space to help the grassroots music scene flourish. He described his decision to take it on as a case of “putting my money where my mouth is” after speaking out over damaging public sector cuts to the creative industries.

From Oprah to An Lanntair

And finally, another arts and culture moment from this week that was not just big, but seismic – the selection of a novel set in the Isle of Harris by Oprah’s Book Club!

Oprah Winfrey chose John of John, the third novel by Douglas Stuart, as her 123rd book club selection… and her first ever book club pick from Scotland.

Douglas Stuart is, of course, famous for writing Booker Prize winner Shuggie Bain. But that pales into almost total insignificance compared to be chosen by Oprah.

It must have been pretty surreal to be in the studio with Oprah, who makes household names and massive bestsellers with her choices – and Stuart is going to be switching up the Oprah studio for the Lanntair stage later this month.

He will be in conversation in our arts centre in Stornoway with fellow writer Kevin MacNeil about his new release as part of the John of John book launch tour. That is on Friday, May 29 and – for the locals among you – tickets are still available. There will be a Q&A and a signing afterwards.

The novel is centred on love, sexual identity and repression, religion and the Harris landscape.

After the book club news was revealed, Stuart said: “I’m so glad I get to finally share the wonderful Oprah news, because honestly the secret has been killing me!

“The phone call from Oprah telling me she loved my book and wanted to share it with her book club was one of the greatest, and most surreal, calls of my life!

“Oprah’s was the first book club I ever saw on television, the first to say that books are for everyone and that everyone is welcome. For three decades she has been bringing writers and readers together and I am really humbled to become a small part of that legacy…

“I’m also proud that this is the first ever Scottish book selected. It’s always exciting to see Scottish literature on the global stage. The hope is that it stokes a little curiosity in readers and encourages them to read on and to learn more about Scotland and our long history of incredible books.”

Oprah described the novel as “a satisfying, rich, full read” which “brilliantly weaves a complex and compelling story that ultimately shows us the power of love in a world that is hostile, in a world that is judgemental”.

I was interested in hearing what Roddy Murray from An Lanntair would make of their upcoming guest’s Oprah moment – and he picked up on the fact that our audience at home will be quite different to the usual Oprah readers. There is likely to be a different kind of discernment, locally.

Roddy, whose title is Head of Visual Arts and Literature at An Lanntair, said: “Oprah’s Book Club is probably the premier televised book event on the planet. Massive exposure and an opportunity only afforded to premium writers and bestselling or trending books. It’s also one of the top ten ‘Books to Watch’ in the New York Times.”

Roddy commented: “Essentially, I think John of John will have two audiences: A global one, probably numbering in the hundreds of thousands, read by many who will have never even heard of Harris or the Outer Hebrides, and – in relative terms – a tiny one comprised of the people who live in Lewis and Harris, where the novel is set.

“Douglas is on a major promotional tour at the moment in capital cities and large venues but – you know what – I bet he will be more nervous about appearing here, than anywhere else!”

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With that, I bid you a good weekend, whatever you’re doing!

Barvas Estate have made public their objections to the Northland N4 project and put Comhairle nan Eilean Siar under pressure in the process. Also, a behind-the-scenes chat with the consultant who ran the ‘88 per cent object’ survey to the windfarm, and something to inspire… Barra runner Alasdair Iain Elder wins Ultra X Scotland and Jane Maciver on the home strait in her Hebridean Way fundraiser.

Barvas Estate Trust’s submission over windfarm asks questions of CnES

Today is election day, with islanders going to the polls to decide who will represent them in the Scottish Parliament as MSP for the Na h-Eileanan Iar constituency.

Today is also deadline day for formal objections to Northland’s highly controversial proposed N4 / Spiorad na Mara offshore wind farm off the west coast of Lewis.

Campaign group Eilean Mo Ghaoil are stressing “this is not a done deal” and urging people to object to the plan that would see 60 wind turbines sited just offshore.

It is said they will be the tallest marine wind turbines in UK waters.

Objections can be done easily, via the ObjectNow platform, which can be accessed at

https://spiorad.object.now/

This week, Urras Sgìre Oighreachd Bharabhais (the Barvas Estate Trust) went public with their formal response to the planning application, sharing their submission to the Marine Directorate on Facebook on Monday.

Their submission “respectfully request(ed)” that consideration be given to the “concerns and observations raised within our community when assessing the Spiorad na Mara Offshore Wind Farm planning application” – and it detailed them.

It was particularly interesting to see this hard-hitting submission from Barvas because Barvas is one of the parties in the West Side Estate Group. This is the collective of estates on the west side who came together for the purposes of negotiating community benefit payments from future renewables developments, mostly notably Northland’s N4.

The group secured a commitment of £4.5million per annum in community benefit as a result of these discussions, leading to some comments that the estates had been effectively ‘bought’ because of the big sums they would get if the project goes ahead.

The £4.5million commitment followed nearly two years of discussions and at the time the group stressed it had not taken a view on supporting the project but, rather, was securing a commitment should the project end up going ahead.

Barvas Estate Trust’s submission to the Marine Directorate was dated 1 May and represents a range of views on behalf of the community.

In it, they said: “Barvas Estate is one of the community owned estates that is closest to the above referenced Wind Farm development. The proximity of this development to shore is unique as N4 is the closest lease of all ScotWind marine areas let in 2021 by the Scottish Government, and the closest to shore of any marine wind farm in Europe.”

They pointed out the “significant visual impact” it would have, “due to an array of 60 wind turbine generators, 338m in height above mean sea level and situated only 5km to 13km from the coastline”.

They also noted the consenting application for the wind farm had been “fragmented into separate submissions by the developer” and while the current application relates to the marine elements, “a subsequent application will inevitably follow for the onshore transmission infrastructure and a large-scale substation of up to 50,000sqm”.

This would “dominate the landscape of the largest township within the Barvas Estate”.

Throughout its five-page submission to Scottish Ministers, Barvas Estate Trust set out a series of significant concerns with frequent references to planning polices.

The submission, made in the name of David Macmillan, Director and Chairman of Barvas Estate Trust, was carefully worded from the outset.

It stated: “The Directors of the Barvas Estate Trust have adopted a neutral position on the proposed Wind Farm development and sought the views of our community for direction on any representation for project consenting.”

The Trust explained it had reviewed the application for its potential benefits and impacts against its ‘purposes’ in its Articles of Association, which included managing land and assets for the benefit of the community, improving the conditions of life, and advancing environmental protection and education around environment, culture and heritage.

After setting out its remit, Barvas Estate Trust set out the overall views gathered on the wind farm – and fired a major salvo at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for its role in the identification and leasing of the N4 area for development as part of the ScotWind auction.

Barvas listed “specific areas of concerns raised within the community” in its submission and put “lack of community engagement” at the top of that list.

“There was no consultation with the communities on the west coast of Lewis prior to the Crown Estate Scotland identifying and leasing of the N4 area for development. The plan was imposed upon residents without consent,” they said.

“Our local council authority (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar) has since admitted and apologised that they had misrepresented these communities by stating to the Scottish Government that there was no objection from local communities to the proximity of N4 location and the communities were in favour.

“This misrepresentation is a serious breach of our communities’ rights under existing planning legislation which alone would justify suspension of any consenting until a public enquiry is undertaken.”

Barvas referenced several national policies which enshrine the right to “early engagement” and to “empower people to shape their places”, and then said: “The above opportunities for early engagement were not afforded to our community.”

There were multiple other areas of concern listed in Barvas Estate Trust’s submission. They were:

Visual, sound and light pollution.

Unfavourable impact on health and wellbeing of residents.

Lack of understanding of cultural significance.

Significant adverse effects on protected birdlife, migratory fish and habitats.

Failure to protect the integrity and setting of scheduled monuments.

Unassessed onshore impacts and breach of statutory rights of crofters.

Irreparable harm to the tourism economy and coastal character.

Housing values.

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It is beyond the scope and space of this newsletter to go into any more details on this submission from Barvas Estate Trust but it can be read in full on their facebook page, which can be found here.

The integrity of the one survey that established public opinion

Last week, I said a big “well done” to campaign group Eilean Mo Ghaoil for their efforts in doorstepping from Ness through to Uig and beyond to raise awareness of the N4 project and get the message out that there was still time to object.

This week, I want to talk about the survey carried out by that same group to assess public opinion on the proposal and to share the views from the research consultant who did it for them, Janet Anne MacDonald.

The “first ever community survey” of islanders on the proposed N4 wind farm delivered a resounding verdict: 88 per cent were opposed to it, as it currently stands.

The full survey results with comments can be viewed online via Eilean Mo Ghaoil’s website, https://www.emg-lewis.co.uk/news-1, but it was essentially a simple survey, of just one question, with an added text box for optional comment.

That question was: “Do you support the N4 windfarm development, as is currently proposed?” The answer was a simple yes or no.

I spoke with consultant Janet, who is now back in Stornoway after years in New Zealand, about the survey.

Janet had her own communications and research agency, Change Hub, in New Zealand for 15 years and worked in the public sector, including for national government. By the time she had finished she had worked for nearly every government agency in New Zealand and ran “some of their biggest research projects” including “the biggest parental engagement research project that the Ministry of Education ever did”.

Often, her public sector clients “wouldn’t like what they found out but that’s what good research is – good research tells you what the reality is, not what you think it is”.

She came to be involved with Eilean Mo Ghaoil by being impressed with what they were doing online in “presenting the facts” – and offered her services.

Looking at the whole issue of proposed renewables development across the island, she said: “These are huge developments. There should have been an opportunity for the citizens and the residents of Lewis and Harris to actually input and make their views known. We hear time and time again, ‘the majority support this’. Which majority? Which numbers? Based on what?”

She questioned the research that led Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to say, in its response to the draft updated Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy 2025: “The local population is therefore prepared for, and supportive of, large scale deployment of Offshore Wind off Lewis and has not reacted negatively to the potential visual impact in the way other coastal regions in Scotland have.”

Janet said: “This should have had a two-stage process. It should have had a whole series of focus groups all over the island and then a population-wide survey.”

In response to the very simple question by her survey for Eilean Mo Ghaoil, Janet the figures “spoke quite clearly” – and there was “a huge level of objection”.

The survey was carried out using an industry-standard survey platform, and the data was ‘cleaned’ afterwards, with all non-local postcodes and IP addresses from outwith the Western Isles stripped out, to ensure it reflected local views.

The survey was a simple question because the issue at hand was essentially “a binary decision” – not a question around general support for green energy.

The text box for comments was added to learn more.

Janet said: “I’ve never seen a survey that’s had so many comments attached to it. People had a lot to say. The comments were really thoughtful and in-depth and covered a whole range of reasons why they didn’t support it.”

After the data was cleaned, there were around 300 respondents.

Janet said: “I stake my professional reputation and experience on this survey, because it was developed and undertaken under the same stringent conditions as a piece of research I would be doing for the New Zealand government.”

She added: “I was really disappointed at the coverage it got. This is an outstanding ‘no’ with regard to, ‘do residents support this N4 development?’”

As the planning process moves forward, the community survey should be taken into account. But “it should have been done to start with”, she said.

“This survey should have been done at the beginning of this process and they should have put it out to tender for an independent research company like mine to come in and do the research… and that should have sat with the Comhairle.

“These are decisions that are going to impact everyone here for decades and it’s really atrocious that the voice of the locals are being trampled over.”

The individuals involved in campaign group Eilean Mo Ghaoil have remained publicly anonymous but one of them spoke to me about how fortunate they had been with the professionals who had come alongside them during the campaign.

She said they had been “so lucky at EMG”, both in their core committee and wider community of volunteers, to have worked with professional artists, designers, marketing consultants and tradition bearers with knowledge of environment, place, language and culture.

She added they had been “really fortunate” in that “everything that we’ve done has been factual” and they have also been self-funded, with no outside investment or business support.

“We have been self-funded and received community donations and that has gone towards everything that we’ve printed and put out, but we are all volunteers doing this in our own time.”

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For more about Eilean Mo Ghaoil, visit https://www.emg-lewis.co.uk/

Barra runner Alasdair Iain Elder crushes Ultra X Scotland

So far, so serious. Now for the inspirational story of one island runner who is a man on a mission and making big waves in the world of ultra running…

Alasdair Iain Elder , 28, is an electrical engineer, from Barra, now living in Stornoway.

He has also just won Ultra X Scotland – one of the biggest ultra trail races in the country and which attracts runners from all over the world. It took place over two days around Loch Ness last weekend.

Alasdair Iain won the Harris half marathon last year and has performed well in other big events but this is the first time he has topped the podium on such a major stage.

It has also given him a big boost mentally as he enters the later stages of his preparation for a very big personal challenge. He is taking on the Hebridean Way on June 22 and intending to run it in one go – apart from the bits where he has to take the ferry of course – and aiming to set a new record for the ‘fastest known time’.

The Hebridean Way is 153 miles or 258km long and, as far as Alasdair Iain is aware, the existing FKT is just under 49 hours.

Alasdair Iain is taking on the challenge in memory of his dad and to raise money for the Lucky2BHere charity, which has already pledged to put a defibrillator in his home village of Bruernish from the money he makes.

An ultra run is classified as anything about the 26.2 mile marathon distance. Alasdair Iain has been running them for three years now and was “absolutely delighted” to finally come out on top.

“I ran the Loch Ness 24 as my first ever ultra so I’ve just been plugging away at different races since then and finally won one.”

The result has helped him feel “quietly confident” now about the big runs that are coming up, including a training run up the Uists from Eriskay to Berneray over the next couple of days and the Skye Ultra on May 23.

The total distance he ran at Ultra X Scotland was 110km over two days. Ultra X offers the option of a two-day race or for runners to do just one of the two days.

There were about 40 nationalities taking part and hundreds on the start line both days.

Alasdair Iain noticed the ones who were only running Sunday looked relatively fresh and took off quickly, compared to those who had also been running the day before – but he still managed to beat them all, crossing the line in a total time of 11 hours 12 minutes.

He was also happy to have survived the experience relatively intact, with no blisters and no serious problems with the legs beyond the usual aches and stiffness.

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Looking ahead to the big FKT attempt in June, the Ultra X win has given Alasdair Iain “a big bonus” for his mental game for that.

Meanwhile, as I write this on Wednesday night, Jane Maciver is just about on the home strait with her own Hebridean Way challenge in aid of the lifeboat. I wrote last week that Jane had arrived in Barra and was set to walk home to Stornoway.

Since then she has made it to Lewis in stages, and passed the Failte do dh’ Eilean Leodhais sign on Wednesday afternoon. She has walked around 120 miles so far.

On Wednesday night she said: “I’m good until I stop and then I just zonk!

“It’s been really, really good. The second day was really, really tough but I think that was more just lack of sleep and not knowing where I was going because I’m not familiar with the areas.

“Saturday was really bad so I’ve just been thinking, ‘no other day is going to be as bad as that’. I had a lovely day yesterday, coming up Harris and seeing the beaches… and it was just amazing today. Lots of people stopping to talk to me and so many kind people bringing me coffees and traybake and sweets and juice and donations… and chatting! I was only walking for just under seven hours but I was out for nearly 12. Great! Loved it!”

Thursday was due to be wet so Jane was “not looking forward to that but it’s only 15 miles so it’s not too bad and at least I’ll be prepared for it”.

Before she began, Jane worried she had “bitten off more than she could chew”. And now she can “hardly believe that I’ve only got three more days left”.

She said it had “gone past in a flash but overall I’ve had a great time” and people’s kindness was continually “blowing my mind”. The sum on the JustGiving page keeps “going up and up and up”. At the time of writing it was standing at just over £7,000.

Jane is fundraising in memory of her partner, Craig Duffy, who was lost at sea in 2004, and she has been fundraising since 2008, particularly for the lifeboat.

She said: “It’s worth being tired at the end of the day to raise money for the lifeboat.”

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Happily, the forecast for the weekend is better and Jane is walking to Stornoway on Thursday, heading to Ness on Friday, and then back to Stornoway to finish at the lifeboat station on Saturday.

Alasdair Iain and Jane both have JustGiving pages for their Hebridean Way challenges.

To donate to Alasdair Iain, click here.

To donate to Jane, click: here.

Cheerie an-dràsta.

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YOU DID IT! A massive well done to the many volunteers who joined campaign group Eilean mo Ghaoil this week to let people know there is still time to protest against Northland’s N4 / Spiorad na Mara offshore wind farm – and how to officially object before the deadline of 7th May.

In other news, lifeboat fundraising queen Jane Maciver has finally got underway on her epic Hebridean Way adventure after being caught up in ferry mayhem.

Also, insights into an alternative and refreshing approach to business from homeopath and herbalist Amanda Saurin, creator of the croft-based wellness brand A.S Apothecary.

Amanda is based in Harris but has clients all over the world and is currently in Greece with half her team, working on a bespoke spa product range from native plants. She also makes the Wild Eve non-alcoholic drink which is stocked in 50 Michelin restaurants but Amanda is opposed to exponential growth and ‘more’ for the sake of it, saying it’s important to know when is ‘enough’.

The many steps on a campaign trail that matters

WELL DONE to the campaign group Eilean Mo Ghaoil for rallying the troops and leafleting a huge swathe of Lewis in a bid to let people know that THERE IS STILL TIME to object to Northland’s massive offshore wind farm that is planned for the west coast of Lewis.

The deadline for objections is 7th May and objections can be submitted via the ObjectNow platform, which takes only a few minutes and is very straightforward and easy to follow.

Submitting an objection ensures concerns are recorded as part of the decision-making process and a high number of well-reasoned objections will demonstrate to decision makers that there is significant public concern about a planning application and its potential impacts.

To submit an objection, visit

https://spiorad.object.now

One of the dozen or so committee members of Eilean Mo Ghaoil – who have chosen to remain publicly anonymous – told me their leafletting campaign this week had been hugely encouraging, in terms of what they were hearing on the doorstep, and heartening to be a part of.

The committee member said it was concerning, though, to discover how many people thought it was “a done deal”.

The proposed project is majority owned by Northland Power, a Canadian company, and the electricity generated will go into the national grid, not anywhere near those impacted by the development, and does not guarantee cheaper bills for local households either.

Northland’s N4 project, which the developers also named Spiorad na Mara to howls of cultural appropriation from the indigenous Gaels, would see the construction of up to 60 turbines.

One of the proposed scenarios has the turbines standing 338m above sea level – a third of a kilometre! – and taller than than the Eiffel Tower.

With the closest turbine only 6km from shore, they will be visible from most of Lewis.

The blades will be so big that some of them will be bigger than a Boeing 747-8, the largest operational aircraft int the world. The rotor diameter will be 280m. For further comparison, the rotor diameter of the Galson turbine is 44m.

In order to get the message out to as many people as possible, Eilean Mo Ghaoil – which recently carried out a survey showing 88 per cent opposition to the plans in the local area – embarked on the leafleting drive, and nearly 50 people got involved. They were mainly women and were women of all ages, including some young mums with children in tow. And they fairly got their steps in!

Speaking on Wednesday night, she told me: “‘We’ve just leafleted the whole of Ness. That’s us now leafleted between Uig – Ness, the cable corridor and a huge area of Stornoway.

“Feedback on the doors has been brilliant. We knew the community were mostly opposed to the development but this solidified it. Some people were waiting for their paper copy and were delighted to receive it to object.

“It’s concerning the amount of people who believed and have been told his is a done deal and it already had planning. They were relieved to hear they still had an opportunity to object.

“The main message is – there is still time to object, until 7th May. Every member of your household can object. Your family on the mainland can object. Please help the community of Lewis get their voices heard in this extremely unfair planning process.”

She added their opposition to the renewables project went “against the narrative” but nonetheless it had been “so exciting to be part of a grassroots community campaign”.

She said: “We’ve had amazing volunteers doing 20,000 plus steps a night. Young mothers and women working together in something we believe in.

“It’s been a hard and stressful slog, but proud to be a part of it. Whatever the outcome, we can rest easy knowing we’ve done all we can, to a high standard.”

Between 30 and 40 volunteers joined in the leafletting. Added to the Eilean Mo Ghaoil committee, who number a solid 12 and a few others that come and go, that made up the group of nearly 50.

Most of the members of Eilean Mo Ghaoil keep anonymous, in order to protect themselves from some of the repercussions that can result from going up against plans for such a development. Their website describes them as “Isle of Lewis residents, Gaels, business owners, parents, crofters and surfers”.

The group have made extensive use of social media during their campaign and produced detailed and insightful reports on the plans along with professional infographics.

The Eilean Mo Ghaoil member told me: “I wish the narrative was that our campaign was inspiring. When did it become that a grassroots community campaign spanning years with women, young and old, coming together wasn’t inspiring? We need more of it!”

Posting on social media, the group said: “The response from people on doorsteps has been both encouraging and empowering, sending a clear message to the Scottish government – the community’s voice has not been heard in the process, to date, but we will be heard now.”

For more on the campaign, visit https://www.emg-lewis.co.uk/

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‘Absolutely amazing’ donations as Jane and Dooker land in Barra

MEANWHILE lifeboat fundraising queen Jane Maciver and her four-legged companion Dooker have made it to Barra and begun their 169-mile walk of the Western Isles.

Jane, Dooker and their driver Anne Mackenzie made it to Barra this afternoon (Friday) after having to go the long way round, because the Leverburgh ferry was off due to a crew shortage.

So they had to go Tarbert to Uig, Uig to Lochmaddy and then down to Eriskay, which was not in the plans. It was panic stations when Jane got the message from CalMac on Wednesday night that the Leverburgh boat – such as it was, anyway – was off, but they managed to get the last space on the triangular route.

Not being able to start till midday, it was going to be a late finish for Jane and Dooker as they have 15 or 16 miles to cover, but she was determined to get started on the 1st of May as planned, not least because the schedule has been planned for months and they have accommodation and other ferries to get to!

Jane is walking the length of the Outer Hebrides to fundraise for Stornoway RNLI in memory of her partner Craig Duffy, who lost his life at sea in 2004.

Jane held her first fundraising challenge in 2008, to mark what would have been his 30th birthday – and she’s been fundraising ever since.

She began training for this latest challenge in January, logging more than 310 training miles, in addition to her everyday walks to and from work, and was hugely encouraged by the massive boost to her JustGiving pot over the last week or so.

In fact, around the very time she got off the ferry in Ardmhor, her fundraising total so far went past the £5000 mark – which was what she was aiming to raise by the time her walk is done.

Jane, a veterinary assistant at the Old Mill practice in Stornoway, is walking the first stretch in reverse, going from the ferry to Bagh a Deas in Vatersay because that made more sense logistically than driving to Bagh a Deas only to walk back up…

It’s an approach she will take for the last section of the Hebridean Way too, as she plans to finish in Stornoway having walked from Ness, so that she can put her finish line at the lifeboat station.

Jane spoke this week about her “disbelief” that the time had finally come – when she thought about it in January, she felt that was “loads of time” – and she had had to endure a lot of training walks in brutal weather conditions as Spring was a long time coming.

But today she was very pleased to get going and thanked everybody for their generosity.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” she said. “People’s generosity is just ‘wow’.”

And happy as she is to be in Barra, Jane is also looking forward to her miles closer to home when she will see familiar faces as she has got a lot of encouragement from drivers in Lewis who passed her when she was out on the road, logging her miles. Often people would stop to check she was okay and offer lifts, water, coffee.

She added that some of their expressions when they passed her out walking in random places had given her “a much-needed chuckle on some days”.

The thought of the money she’s raising has been a huge motivator. But if you’re on the road over the next 10 days or so, and you see our Jane and Dooker… give them a massive wave too!

To donate to Jane’s fundraiser, visit www.justgiving.com/page/jane-maciver-8

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The spirit of a croft-based business down in Harris

AND FINALLY, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Amanda Saurin of A.S Apothecarey recently – see this week’s Stornoway Gazette for a fuller piece – and found her approach to business to be really refreshing.

In a world where so many are about expanding, Amanda doesn’t have expansion plans as such and has allowed her business to grow organically. She does not actively look for growth areas but, rather, waits for them to come to her.

Amanda, originally from Edinburgh, lives in Northton, where she grows plants for her products on her croft and in her giant greenhouse, and has a workshop in Leveburgh.

A homeopath and herbalist to trade, Amanda was at the forefront of the clean beauty movement in London in 2015 when she was sought out to create a ‘clean’ skincare range.

Before that, her work had been more therapeutic but she embraced the opportunity and A.S Apothecary was born.

Her connection to Harris came about through a chance meeting with the daughter of the man who founded the Isle of Harris distillery, Burr Bakewell, and she ended up making the botanical sea kelp infusion that goes into Isle of Harris gin!

That work meant she was flying up and down to the island regularly, developing the infusion, and she was struck by the beauty of the place and the availability of so many plants she could use in her business. She knew she could make it work and relocated in 2019.

Amanda’s range of products is extensive and includes plant-based skincare, free of synthetic chemicals. The Harris range in particular is aimed at women of a certain age and – being a woman of a certain age – I plan to try some out very soon!

She also has products that combat the sleep problems that come with mid-life, as well as the generally rubbish skin, and her sleep cream, launched about a year ago, has a loyal following and is used by men and women all over the world.

I already knew, before speaking with Amanda, about her Wild Eve non-alcoholic drink and really like it. She created it because she was fed up, as a non-drinker, of the limited options she had when she went out and she wanted something that gave her a sense of occasion.

So she came up with Wild Eve but it did take her four and a half years to develop it. “It’s really, really hard to make a delicious non-alcoholic drink,” she said.

Well it was worth the hard work. I’m a non-drinker too and i had Wild Eve and tonic the last time we went out to dinner – at Uig Sands – and was struck by how good it was and how much like a ‘real’ drink, with a sense of ceremony.

It has had a ringing endorsement too.

Wild Eve is stocked by 50 Michelin restaurants, including Gleneagles, The Kitchin, Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck and Tom Kerridge’s restaurant. Indeed, when I spoke to Amanda on the phone she happened to be sitting having a coffee in the Gleneagles Townhouse in Edinburgh and remarked that she could see a bottle of her Wild Eve on the bar…

That was “rather nice”, she said. And it came off the croft in Harris!

Talking with Amanda leaves a very pleasant aftertaste in general.

How many business owners, especially when they have a global brand, will choose ‘sufficiency’ over exponential growth? Partly that makes sense, to ensure plant-based products don’t lose their vitality by sitting on a shelf for too long, but it’s more than that. It is an ethos.

She said she only starts thinking about what products she could develop when people come to her, expressing a need. Otherwise, she is satisfied.

“We’re in a really good position. The business is really strong, I’m doing all the things I love, I’ve got a team of fantastic people that I work with… why would I want more? It’s not about more and more and more. I think you have to be able to say, ‘you know what? This is great.”

Amanda pays everyone “well above the Living Wage Foundation recommendation” and her workforce has a flat structure, with everybody paid the same and trained up to cover each other.

“We just all get on… there’s no incentive to tread on people to get up the ladder because there’s no ladder. We are ladderless!”

In an example of what can be achieved when people have a gentle touch, Amanda tells the story of 250 roses she wanted to take with her in their move from Sussex to Harris.

She had feared they would not survive the journey but she was keen to bring them because they are such an important plant in her products, and at “the core of almost everything I do”. So she came up with a plan.

She moved them from Sussex to Yorkshire and let them acclimatise there for a couple of years before moving them the rest of the way north to Harris.

“And we didn’t lose one rose. Not one. That’s my favourite thing.”

Blooming marvellous.

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For more about A.S Apothecary visit https://asapoth.com/

For more about Isle of Harris distillery visit https://harrisdistillery.com