ARRAN is one of the top places in the country to live, according to a survey carried out by a group on the island.

The Arran Economic Group (AEG) works with public, private and community partners to help deliver initiatives that will make Arran a world class place to live, work and visit. Last year, the AEG commissioned a survey which drew responses from 254 residents to find out how people felt about the quality of life on the island.

Questions were based on standard quality of life metrices, used across Scotland.

The Group would like to thank all residents for participating in the survey and take this opportunity to share some of the very positive survey findings.

The results of the survey were compared with information from the 32 local authority areas in Scotland, with overall results placing Arran third across all local authorities.

The questions included the following aspects of Island Life: -

· Very few people experienced problems of vandalism or graffiti

· Very few problems in terms of noisy neighbours or loud parties

· Excellent community safety, especially people feeling safe at night

· Very good ratings of personal health

· Very low smoking rate, eight per cent

· Very high degree of community involvement through community groups and/or charities

· Widespread feelings of ‘belonging’ in the community

· Low level of people in financial difficulty, 6 per cent

The above show many positives and prove how great a quality of life local people enjoy. However, there were some negatives identified:

· 82 per cent were dissatisfied with the island’s roads

· 33 per cent had a recent negative experience due to animal nuisance or littering

· Lack of ferry spaces, road traffic and pressure on services due to tourism were the main challenges felt to arise from increased island tourism. Tourism on balance is very well supported across the island, although it was felt additional pressure was put on services and infrastructure with residents suggesting additional funding is allocated to maintain and improve facilities to reinforce a good visitor and resident experience.

The AEG will be running the survey again later in the year and hope that you will take the time to give us your opinions again so that any changes in the quality of island life can be identified, helping the AEG partners and stakeholders direct their efforts where they are most needed.