Is tide turning for islands link?

Councillors in the Outer Hebrides are asking local people if they want a fixed link across the Sound of Harris ... five miles (nine kms) of water that separate Berneray and the Uist to the south from Harris and Lewis to the north.

It is estimated it would cost about £150m to complete the roadway, and associated green energy projects. Huw Williams reports for the BBC Scotland news website.

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The islands of the Outer Hebrides seem to glitter, as you fly into Benbecula airport.

It almost looks as though there's more water than land.

Maybe that's why the causeways that the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) has been building since the mid-1970s are so important.

Existing causeways have been battered by storms and floods

As I sat in Mary's kitchen, eating delicious ginger cake, she remembered what it had been like on her island, before the road was built.

The only way off was across the sands, when the tide was out.

It had been very difficult, she'd told me.

She'd felt trapped, with her son. And she laughed as she remembered what it had been like relying on her late husband to do all the shopping.

Some people were against the causeways when they were first proposed, but they have undoubtedly transformed lives.

Green energy

They've made it possible for people to travel freely, use shops ands services, and get to and from school and work.

That's why the Comhairle (Council) is suggesting completing its Spinal Route, from the Butt of Lewis in the north right down to Vatersay in the south, by building a fixed link across the Sound of Harris.

Consultants engaged to look at the technical feasibility of the scheme have concluded that it could be done.

Though they concede it would be hard to justify building the link just on the number of vehicles that would use it.

Factor in the possible socio-economic benefits, though, and it begins to look worth it.

And as well as the causeway and raised bridge section, add in associated green energy projects (such as wind turbines and wave and tidal generators) and it even begins to look affordable.

Causeways link most of the islands in the Outer Hebrides

True that would all cost an extra £75m (doubling the total cost), but it would produce a guaranteed income, helping the road to pay for itself.

The scheme is now out for public consultation. It could be done, but should it be?

Not everyone thinks it should.

Journalist and crofter John MacLeod lives at Shawbost on the Isle of Lewis.

He told me he'd be concerned at the idea.

Open bridge

He pointed to the combination of storm force winds and high tides that caused the deaths of five members of the same family in South Uist in 2005, and expressed concern that causeways in the area might have made the surges of water much more dangerous.

"There was massive local flooding ... 10ft of water over the main road ... and the causeway built in the late 80s was seen as a factor", he told me, adding that the causeway had replaced an open bridge, and had therefore restricted the tidal flow.

You still need a ferry to get between Berneray and Harris

And Donald Maclean, chairman of Berneray Community Council, told me that he is concerned the fixed link could threaten jobs on the island.

There are the crewmen on the ferry, the Loch Portain, which would no longer be needed.

And there's the impact on local fishermen.

He told me he used to fish for shellfish such as velvet crabs, between Berneray and North Uist.

Public consultation

"It was a good fishing ground, but within two or three years of the causeway being built there the fishing just got worse and worse, and in the end it just wasn't worth fishing there at all", he said.

"It is a worry that the same thing could happen if the fixed link is built", he added.

The argument is that if the existing causeways are having such an impact, the new road - which would be much bigger - could be much worse.

But Berneray councillor Archie Campbell is one of the people presenting the fixed link plans at a series of public consultation meetings around the islands.

It is not just humans who have problems getting about

He told me that "the perceived threat to fishing grounds is very very important, and before any project could go ahead we'd need much better information than we have at the moment about exactly what the impacts would be."

And the Convenor of the Comhairle (Council), Alex Macdonald said that linking the project with the tragedy of two years ago was "rather emotional" and "not conducive to proper discussion or debate"

"We're bringing the proposals to the people as early as possible so that all aspects can be looked at ... including safety. But I'm certain that before anything could be constructed the plans will have to be extensively looked at.", he said

That's going to take years.

So even if the scheme gets the go-ahead it'll be, perhaps, 2017 before anything starts being built.