Rural Housing Service - Case Study: Durness

Case Study: Durness Housing Initiative

Partners

· Durness Housing Liaison Group
· Scottish Homes
· Rural Housing Service
· Albyn Housing Society
· Sutherland District Council
· Durness Community Council

Location
Durness Housing Needs Survey
· Main Findings
Next Steps
The Competition
The Development
· The Site
· Site Ownership
· Durness Housing Group
· Day Care Centre
The Final Development

Durness on the map

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-Map
service, with permission from Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland .

Location
Durness Parish lies at the extreme north-west corner of the Scottish mainland in the County of Sutherland. It covers a spectacularly beautiful part of the Highlands, comprising wild shoreline, wonderful sandy beaches, some good grazing land and a vast hinterland of moors and mountains.

Durness

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-Map service

The main settlement of the area is the village of Durness made up of several crofting townships. The Parish also includes the much smaller outlying settlements of Laid, Eriboll and Hope.

Durness is 74 miles from the County town of Golspie and 103 miles from Inverness. The first 52 miles of both journeys are along single track roads, which subsequently increase travelling time.

The population of the parish is 351 (1991 census) and the school roll is 27 and is projected to be at or around this figure for the forseeable future. The age structure of the population is well balanced although the proportion of residents aged over 80 is high. The stability of the population level over the last 20+ years suggests population decline is unlikely. It appears quite probable that numbers will gradually increase if the local economy remains vibrant enough to continue to hold its young people (nearly 2/3rds of the present population is aged under 35).

The village has a Post Office, two petrol stations and two very good grocers shops/general stores. Public transport is limited to the Post Office Mailbus which travels to and from Kinlochbervie. Cars are therefore essential items for almost all households.

Durness Housing Needs Survey
The original impetus for the Durness Housing Needs Survey came from the Durness Community Care Group, which was founded by Age Concern in 1990. The group, which aims to try and ensure that the needs of older people in the Durness area are properly catered for locally, identified housing as an area of particular concern. They felt however that the particular housing needs of the elderly should be looked at in the context of all the local housing needs and opportunities.

a Durness beach

a Durness beach

As a result the Durness Housing Liaison Group, was set up in May 1992 under the chairmanship of the Reverend Macsween. With the support of Durness Community Council and Sutherland District Council the Housing Liaison Group asked Di Alexander, Rural Housing Service to survey and help analyse the housing situation in the whole Parish of Durness.

With the involvement of the Local Housing Liaison Group a detailed questionnaire was drawn up and posted to everyone of the Parish's 150 permanently resident households. By the end of November 1992 62% (93 questionnaires) had been returned for subsequent analysis. Respondents were assured that all the information provided would be treated with complete confidentiality - no names or addresses were requested and questionnaires were returned to the Rural Housing Service in envelopes sealed by respondents.

Other relevant evidence, published and unpublished, was gathered in from various sources including Sutherland District Council, Highland Regional Council and Scottish Homes.

1 · 2 · 3 · 4

| | || | | |