Which places matter, and whose stories are worth telling?
Not long ago, I pitched a piece of writing that was rejected. The rejection itself didn’t bother me – writers have their work rejected far more often than not – but the reason for it gave me pause. I was told that unfortunately the location of the story was “limiting,” the interested audience too small to make it worthwhile.
The location I was writing about? The Outer Hebrides, of course.
For those unfamiliar with the Outer Hebrides, they are a string of 100 islands just off the north west coast of Scotland. 15 of them are permanently inhabited, from the Isle of Lewis in the north (home to the largest town of Stornoway), to the Isle of Vatersay in the south, with a combined population of about 26,000 people. They’re linked by a series of ferries, causeways, and planes, a route stretching 130 miles from north to south at the edge of the Atlantic.
In that 130-mile stretch, there are countless stories to be told: stories everything from arts and music to food and drink, traditional land use and conservation to tourism and the role the islands play as the heartland of Gaelic language and culture, and so much more besides.
Not for the first time, I found myself wondering why urban stories are considered universal, their appeal wide-ranging, but rural stories are seen as limiting.
Why is a story from London or Edinburgh seen as a state of the union, a reflection of all our lives, but one from Lewis or Caithness is seen as small, parochial, and inward-looking? Who gets to decide which stories matter, and who gets to tell them?
In his essay The Heart of Beyond, Shetland author Malachy Tallack writes that in the UK “the farther one gets from major cities, the greater the extent to which a place is likely to be culturally marginalised, or just forgotten. That blankness blooms towards the edges.”
Recently, I’ve been considering how this marginalisation of rural places goes beyond stories.
As Malachy says in the essay, “To read is an act of empathy, it is an act of care… It allows us to hear stories from those who would otherwise seem distant.” Stories matter. If you never hear stories from rural places, if you know nothing about them past surface stereotypes, why would you care when they are damaged, exploited, or left behind?
In Uprooted, a book about writer Grace Olmstead’s rural childhood home in Idaho, in the Midwest of the USA, she writes that “It’s easy to exploit places we don’t know, places we believe to be unimportant. It’s easy to think the soil can last forever if you know nothing of it. But extraction of value at the expense of the land and its people destroys both the “nowheres” and the “somewheres” if you give it time.”
This line has been on my mind, not just in terms of whose stories matter, but because “the extraction of value at the expense of the land and its people” is what is being debated in the Outer Hebrides right now.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the Isle of Lewis, the largest island in the archipelago, is at risk of industrialisation.
Seven large-scale wind farms are currently being proposed for Lewis.[i] One of the companies involved, a Canadian multinational called Northland Power, is in the pre-planning stage for an offshore wind farm just 5km from the shore on the West Side of Lewis, with up to 65 turbines reaching 380m high, taller than the Eiffel Tower.[ii]
Connected to this N4 “Spiorad na Mara” wind farm will be a plethora of land-based electrical substations, electricity cables and road alterations across the island.[iii] One of these is currently under planning consideration at the Western Isles council: the SSEN electrical substation just outside the main town of Stornoway.
This proposed hub will cover 285 hectares – the equivalent of about 399 football pitches – across the Arnish Moor.
SSEN’s own planning application for the site admits there will be “significant adverse effects for people who may be present” within the moorland, the Lews Castle Grounds, various parts of Stornoway itself, and important local historical sites like the War Memorial and Iolaire Memorial.[iv]
To the untrained eye, the moorland that will be damaged by this substation (and other wind farm-related projects) might seem empty and featureless. But take a closer look, pay attention to the stories of the place and the people, and you’ll discover there is more here than meets the eye.
Peatland like this is globally recognised as a critical carbon sink, playing key role in combating climate change and “rich in biodiversity.”[v] The Lewis moorland is also culturally and linguistically significant, as bestselling writer Robert Macfarlane outlines in Landmarks, where an entire chapter is dedicated to the landscape and its links to the Gaelic language.
Of course, it’s not just the electrical substation and land-based wind farms that would impact the local environment, but the offshore wind farms too.
The seas surrounding the Outer Hebrides are home to a wide variety of rich marine habitats and protected species like seabirds, dolphins, and whales.[vi] Although impacts vary, offshore wind farms can lead to damage of the seabed and disruption of the navigation of sea mammals and birds[vii] – and that’s before you even start considering the impact on the people in the local communities who will live next to them.
Do we really need to destroy the environment in one location in order to “save” it somewhere else?
When it comes to large-scale wind farms in rural areas, the possibility of reducing national carbon emissions is regularly highlighted, but the associated negative impact on local environments is more often than not downplayed, or simply left unsaid.
If the arguments in favour of these wind farm projects is tied to sustainability, then I’d suggest looking to the Isle of Eigg in the Inner Hebrides as an example, where the entire island is run on locally produced renewable energy. The energy produced by the corporate wind farms in Lewis will not be used locally in this way, but exported to the national grid on the mainland.
Others talk of the economic benefit, but as of yet there are no guaranteed boosts for the local economy. A “community benefit fund” of £4.5 million a year for 35 years linked to the N4 wind farm has been proposed for the west side of Lewis only,[ix] a fund that sounds less impressive when you consider that tourism generates £65 million per year for the whole of the Outer Hebrides,[x] or that Northland Power’s revenue from energy sales for the last three months of 2024 alone was $572 million.[xi]
Even if there was a guaranteed financial benefit, would the destruction of the landscape, which is so intrinsically tied to our culture and language, be worth the sacrifice? Would the decrease in quality of life be worth it for everyone who will live next to these industrial structures across rural Lewis, and everyone who will see them across the island?
For me, the answer is “no.”
For others, the answer may be different, but as I’ve written before, I’m against large-scale wind farms in this type of rural community landscape, especially in one with such significant environmental and cultural importance. If wind energy projects are to go ahead, I think they should be smaller, locally-owned projects that directly benefit the communities living with them.
The impact of these proposed Lewis wind farms and their connected industrial infrastructure is just one of many reasons why I feel sharing rural stories is important, and why we need to make sure they are heard.
I don’t believe stories from the Outer Hebrides are “limiting,” but linked to the experiences of rural communities in all sorts of places, whether neighbouring Scottish islands like Shetland or far-flung American states like Idaho. If, as Grace Olmstead writes, “it’s easy to exploit places we don’t know,” then let’s make sure people know about our islands and what is at stake.
Wherever we are, whether we use our voices to protect our landscape, argue for better public transport systems from the government, or simply share our rural experiences, our stories matter. Our islands matter – even if the arbiters of culture and progress elsewhere think they don’t.
____________________
References
[i] “Resources,” Eilean Mo Ghaoil, accessed 14th April 2025, https://www.emg-lewis.co.uk/resources.
[ii] “Spiorad na Mara,” Northland Power Scot Wind, accessed 14th April 2025, https://northlandpowerscotwind.co.uk/spiorad-na-mara/, and “Islanders’ worries over impact of 370m tall turbines,” BBC News, published 2nd March 2024, accessed 14th April 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1r1wwvwj3eo.
[iii] “Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) submitted by Spiorad na Mara Limited,” Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, accessed 14th April 2025, https://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-10/Spiorad_na_Mara_PAN_Cover_Letter.pdf.
[iv] Environmental Impact Assessment Report: Volume 1, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, accessed 14th April 2025, https://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-03/EIA%20Report%20-%20Vol%201%20-%20NON%20TECHNICAL%20SUMMARY.pdf.
[v] “Scotland’s National Peatland Plan: Working for our future,” NatureScot, accessed 14th April 2025, https://www.nature.scot/doc/scotlands-national-peatland-plan-working-our-future.
[vi] “Seas of the Outer Hebrides,” NatureScot, accessed 14th April 2025, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c10f5c28962e40888c99f43f232efdfa.
[vii] Stephen C.L. Watson, Paul J. Somerfield, Anaëlle J. Lemasson, et al., “The global impact of offshore wind farms on ecosystem services,” Ocean & Coastal Management, Volume 249, 2024, 107023, ISSN 0964-5691, accessed 17th April 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2024.107023 and “Are Offshore Wind Farms a Friend or Foe of Marine Life?” Big Blue Ocean Cleanup, published 16th April 2022, accessed 17th April 2025, https://www.bigblueoceancleanup.org/news/2022/2/16/are-offshore-wind-farms-a-friend-or-foe-of-marine-life
[ix] “Spiorad na Mara £4.5 Million Community Benefit Fund,” published 19th August 2024, Fios, accessed April 14th 2025, https://www.fiosnews.co.uk/2024/08/19/4-5-million-every-year-for-thirty-five-years/
[x] “Tourism insights in the Outer Hebrides,” Visit Outer Hebrides, accessed 14th April 2025, https://www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk/industry/information-resources/tourism-in-the-outer-hebrides.
[xi] “Northland Power Reports Fourth Quarter 2024 Results and Announces 2025 Financial Outlook,” Northland Power, published 26th February 2025, accessed 14th April 2025, https://www.northlandpower.com/en/news/press-release/northland-power-reports-fourth-quarter-2024-results-and-announces-2025-financial-outlook.aspx.
____________________
Related blog posts:
On Travel Writing and Stereotyping the Outer Hebrides
Wind Farms, Land Rights, and the Isle of Lewis
____________________
Leave a Reply