LETTERS: ‘Wester Ross has become the Wild West, where corporate greed can run amok’
Last week the Ross-shire Journal published an article highlighting the fears being voiced over the proposed permanent closure of the mothballed Badcaul Primary School in Wester Ross, which may exacerbate severe depopulation challenges the area already faces.
Our readers took to social media to share their thoughts.
Gordon Mason said: “Maybe if some of the locals stopped nay-saying any proposals for affordable housing or positive plans for the area, there would be a better chance of the population growing and less houses being used as holiday lets.
“People want to move there, it's just a shame that a select few seem to have the loudest voices.”
James Newell commented: “Tragic really, when I have kids I will have to leave the area if that school permanently closes.
“Traveling an hour to school and back is no life for a kid. Plus I couldn’t afford to spend nearly four hours of the day traveling for the school run.”
John Wood stated: “I was sad to see this. I was also sad to see school after school disappearing. We lost Torridon, Inverasdale, now Kinlochewe has closed and others are heading the same way. Gairloch High School can no longer offer the full curriculum so it no longer the draw for people to move here it once was. But it all looks deliberate to me.
“Every service, not just schools, is being run down and defunded. The Highland Council is determined to close the public toilets, the care homes, everything. The only investment is via discretionary, 'philanthropic' limited funds we must bid against each other for. Licensing fees for B&Bs and a tourist tax on accommodation seem designed to put people out of business.
“Future visitors will be mobile, pay for everything in Inverness or online and locals will not be 'needed'. And the Scottish government couldn't care less about the so-called 'remote rural' areas. They see our area only as a place for corporate exploitation. An automated 'wilderness' to do as you please, full of power lines and telecomms masts where any maintenance is done by campervan based staff or helicopter. No 'need' for a local population at all, or the expense of public services here anymore.
“Soon it will be impossible to live here at all - unless of course you are super rich and have no need of local services. The Highland Council have published projected figures for falling school rolls but do nothing to counteract them or to invest in our area. Hardly any new jobs or homes are being created by them, or by HIE, in Wester Ross: all their money is pouring into the corrupt 'freeport' which will suck in the whole economy and the population to serve corporate interests.
“Wester Ross is to become the 'Wild West' where corporate greed can run amok and do as it pleases, where it pleases, with no locals to object. It looks like 'managed decline' to me.”
