UK's only council-run abattoir to be supported for another year
Getty ImagesCouncil funding for the UK's only local authority-run abattoir has been guaranteed for another year.
The facility in Stornoway, Lewis, is available to crofters but it has been running at a deficit and there have been doubts over its future.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has allocated £60,000 from the financial support it receives from the Crown Estate towards the running of the site in 2026-27.
The comhairle said work was continuing on securing the abattoir's long-term future and examining alternatives.
The local authority's abattoir working group is also considering how the comhairle could support provision in North and South Uist and Barra.
The decision to provide another year's funding came despite divided opinion among councillors.
Paul Steele, the comhairle's leader, said: "This year is the year we need to decide if we are supporting the abattoir or not."
Harris councillor Kenneth MacLeod said he found it "difficult" to support continued funding given the comhairle's wider financial pressures.
He said it was not viable for the local authority to continue operating the site.
MacLeod said: "Other models need to be looked at first before the authority commits to funding."
He added: "I'm not saying that we shouldn't have an abattoir, just to ask if the comhairle should be running it."
Abattoir jobs
Loch a'Tuath councillor Calum MacLean disagreed, arguing that crofting was "an integral part of our culture and heritage".
He said the working group was going through options "quite systematically".
MacLean added: "We must not lose sight of the fact that the abattoir employs quite a few full-time members of staff - this involves them and their families too.
"We are subsidising buses and supporting the creative industries. We should be supporting crofting."
Barra and Vatersay councillor Kenneth MacLean said he was "uneasy" supporting funding for a Stornoway-based facility without equivalent provision for the southern isles.
