Plans submitted for ‘legacy housing’ linked to SSEN Lewis Hub project

The Galson Estate Trust (GET) has submitted a planning application to construct eight semi-detached houses at a site in Upper Barvas.

The application states that, subject to the conclusion of agreements, the development is “potentially part” of the SSEN ‘legacy housing’ initiative for workers constructing the Lewis Hub substation at Arnish.

In its application, GET – a community landowning trust in the north west of the Isle of Lewis – states the properties would be used by the SSEN workforce for up to three years, after which the applicant would sell or let the homes “in accordance with allocation criteria for local needs.”

The proposed development would be on land currently used as common grazing land and would be accessed via a new access road from the main A857, Stornoway to Ness road, going east from the main road.

The application sits within a longer-term housing plan for the area. A statement submitted as part of the planning application to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar states that in 2017, a need was identified by the Upper Barvas Grazing Committee “to provide additional opportunity for population attraction and retention in the village,” amidst concerns over the lack of housing “to allow young families to remain in the community.”

The Lewis Hub is a key part of the Western Isles HVDC Connection Project SSEN

The Upper Barvas site was deemed suitable for development, and a Masterplan was prepared for a total of 34 affordable houses, 16 housing with extra-care units, and some self-build plots, together with commercial and community spaces. Draft proposals were displayed at a public event in May 2025 at Barvas and Brue Community Centre, “where positive feedback was generally received.”

This planning application is for Phase A of the Masterplan development, and the statement concludes that it “meets the requirement of providing affordable houses to effectively address the local housing demand.”

The proposed housing comprises one-storey, semi-detached dwellings suitable for households of four to six persons. According to the application, all eight dwellings are designed to be wheelchair-friendly and will have parking space and front and rear gardens. The site would have “pavements and pathways connecting various areas of the development,” along with a network of footpaths that will “traverse green spaces, linking sections with the existing Upper Barvas track network to the north-east and south.”