Councillors agree with consultants on St Kilda centre location

Western Isles Councillors have agreed by 17 to 14 votes with consultants’ assessment that a St Kilda Centre should be sited at Mangersta in Uig.

The outcome of the controversial consultants’ report earlier this year had prompted campaigners for the centre to be sited in Harris or North Uist to complain that the criteria used for the assessment had been changed during the process and therefore had skewed a decision in favour of Uig, which many do not believe to be the ideal location for a centre.

There had been calls for the assessment to be performed again with the original criteria, however this bid to restart the process was flung out by councillors following a robust debate on the issue in the council chamber on Thursday evening.

However no matter the outcome of councillors’ decisions and consultants’ reports it may come down to communities themselves where the centre is located. There is currently no finance in place for the project at Uig, so therefore there is nothing to stop rival projects from gathering momentum, if finance for a centre in their area can be secured.

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