**Article originally published in The Caithness Courier, August 2022
I was delighted to meet with constituents and organisations on the Far North leg of my summer surgery tour last week.
With every meeting I had I was struck by the passion residents have for improving their communities across Caithness and Sutherland. This devotion and enthusiasm for enhancing public services - health, schooling, and housing - is what defines us.
Our remote and rural communities only thrive because of the determination of residents, which is undermined by lack of investment and clear policies by central and local government.
In the Far North we can see that happening through the decommissioning of Dounreay and also the slow creep of centralisation impacting local health services and a shortfall of investment when it comes to repairing local roads.
Is centralisation really the long-term solution? Fragile rural communities cannot be left to reverse the potential decline of their region alone. Without that necessary support from government, rural communities can be hamstrung in their attempts for recovery.
Take the issue of Highland depopulation, for example. Reports have shown that Caithness and Sutherland has experienced greater population and working age population decline than all other local authorities in Scotland, for the period 2011 to 2019.
I believe reversing this decline is crucial for the future of the region. Only by attracting new families to the area and creating new job opportunities will there be a future for Caithness and Sutherland. This is made virtually impossible when public services and health care are being centralised in Inverness.
The reasons for depopulation are complex and many, which is why a long-term solution requires not just the rural communities affected, but also all levels of government, public services and the business community to address the challenge together.
Caithness and Sutherland desperately needs a long-term regeneration plan which covers the local economy, health services, transport and access to housing. This is what I will be pushing for as I return to the Scottish Parliament in the coming weeks.
We can be hopeful that the building blocks for such a plan exist. As we have seen with the efforts to secure a PSO at Wick John O’Groats Airport or the broad support for the Cromarty Firth Freeport bid, progress can be made when we all work together on a joint venture.
It is the spirit of cooperation that I will champion and encourage all local politicians, the business community and public service providers to begin working for a shared vision for Caithness and Sutherland.
If we know what the region wants and where it needs to get to in the next twenty years, we can make a plan and work to deliver that vision. Future generations in the Far North will condemn us if we don’t and will not thank politicians for being distracted with constitutional wrangles.
