Rural Scotland People, Prosperity and Partnership
Island LifeOne of the features which makes Scotland so different to other countries in Europe is the number of its islands. There are over 500 islands in the three main archipelagos of Shetland. Orkney and the Western Isles, of which some 350 are populated. Their history is an integral part of that of Scotland and each has its own special magic, whether the sandy machair of the Uists, the continuing battle between land and sea in Shetland or the rolling land of Orkney. But they have many things in common with mainland rural Scotland, like remoteness and the way in which their lives have been built around agriculture and fishing. Since 1974 they have had a unitary form of local government, providing the full range of services to populations as small as 30,000 and each has its own health board. We are committed to enabling the people of the Scottish islands to enjoy the same opportunities and levels of service as the rest of Scotland so far as that is practical.
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