SNP MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Alasdair Allan, has urged island businesses in eligible areas to apply for support after the Scottish Government published details of the Island Business Resilience Fund scheme.
Applications are open from today (Wednesday 2nd July) until midday on the 1st September, with decisions and payments to be processed by the end of October. Highlands and Islands Enterprise will manage the Island Business Resilience Fund on behalf of the Scottish Government, with funding awards expected to range between £3,000 and £35,000 depending on demand and the size of the applying organisation.
Commenting, Alasdair Allan said:
“I am pleased that the Island Business Resilience Fund has now opened for applications, and that the areas worst affected by recent CalMac cancellations will receive significant support through the £4.4m fund. If this fund had been spread too across the entire network, as some have argued for, support available would be spread too thin to make a meaningful difference to businesses’ resilience and recovery from the impact of prolonged ferry disruption.
“What islanders need is a reliable ferry service with enough capacity to serve the local requirements. We will see clear improvements as the further five new major vessels are delivered and begin service over the months ahead. The reality is that many communities have been impacted by problems in recent years, however, and so I am glad to see the Scottish Government’s Island Business Resilience Fund will now commence to help support the local economy in Uist, and elsewhere in the network affected by repeated cancelled sailings, whether for technical or redeployment reasons."
The application form and guidance is available on the Highlands and Islands Enterprise website.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise carried out detailed analysis of information and statistics provided by Transport Scotland and CalMac relating to ferry disruption. The islands of South Uist, Colonsay, North Uist, Eriskay, Benbecula, Berneray, Grimsay and Arran were chosen as eligible for the Islands Business Resilience Fund as they each had more than 15% ferry disruption over the last three seasons. The average cancellations of ferry services across the CalMac network is during that time has been around 7%.
