Staffin Harbour update following funding award.
Press release and photos by Staffin Community Trust/Skye Ecomuseum. Read the full release here.
Staffin Community Trust has confirmed the keenly-anticipated purchase of Staffin Harbour from Highland Council and Scottish Ministers.
The harbour was bought for £30,000, with backing from the Scottish Land Fund.
SCT would like to thank the council and Scottish Ministers (The Department) for being supportive and willing sellers, and said the role Highlands and Islands Enterprise has played - via its support of its development officer via the Community Capacity Programme - was particularly crucial.
And SCT has also secured fresh investment with £409,000 awarded from the Scottish Government’s Islands Programme.
It will help SCT build a harbour facilities building, fund the groundworks cost for the construction of seven new business premises next month and allow the purchase of a telehandler to support the community boat-lifting and storage service.
The original Staffin slipway was built in the early 1900s by the Congested Districts Board to allow boats which sailed between Glasgow and island communities deliver food and supplies. The lifeline harbour came after major fishing and agriculture improvements were made in embattled rural communities like Staffin, which were at the heart of the crofter uprisings against oppressive landlords in the 1880s.
The harbour is much cherished in Staffin having supported local businesses and jobs ever since. It has allowed families to source seafood and transport livestock, while becoming an informal meeting place and a recreational asset for residents and visitors.
Staffin Harbour manager Lachie Gillies said: “We're delighted to have received this grant as it allows us to take another step closer to reaching our goal of having a community harbour which will eventually be self-sufficient, creating jobs and facilities to enable our youngsters to stay and flourish in Staffin. This is the result of a lot of ongoing hard work in sourcing and applying for funding.”
SCT director Angus Ross said: “The Islands Programme grant allows SCT to push on with the construction of harbour buildings and the effective operation of important harbour facilities."
SCT will be advertising the business unit opportunities later this month and intends to deliver further major improvements to the harbour including a new breakwater, slipway and pontoons in a series of phases in the next two to three years.
The project has also received strong support from Staffin Community Council, Skye’s Highland councillors and our constituency MSP Kate Forbes.
SCT has secured almost £3million since 2020 to carry out extensive capital works including the upgrading of the harbour road and work to provide electricity and water connections.
More than 20,000 tonnes of rock were blasted and hauled from nearby Lealt quarry to the harbour earlier this year to create a large on-shore hardstanding area. It will be the base for SCT's business units, boat storage, storage containers. Generating a regular income is crucial for SCT to manage and maintain the harbour properly and sustainable for future generations.
The current Staffin Harbour is inadequate with a severely restricted slipway which is tidal dependent, the breakwater does not provide enough shelter from the weather conditions and wave power, while there is a limited depth of water and there was little or no on-shore facilities or amenities.
Climate change is also having an impact on Staffin Harbour and placing future operations at serious risk.
An alarming report from SCT's marine engineers Wallace Stone has warned that rising sea levels will leave the current slipway submerged by water.
Our harbour - and new hardstanding - are used for a multitude of uses from fishing, aquaculture, boat tours, outdoor sporting events such as the recent Staffin Triathlon to transporting livestock to Stenscholl Island and even 999 coastguard rescues.
