{"id":462408,"date":"2026-03-07T10:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T10:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/462408\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T10:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T10:47:10","slug":"one-of-the-uks-most-remote-and-beautiful-islands-could-get-a-bridge-to-the-mainland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/462408\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the UK\u2019s Most Remote and Beautiful Islands Could Get a Bridge to the Mainland"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the UK<\/a>\u2019s most remote islands may be about to become a lot less remote. The picturesque Isle of Mull, located just off the west coast of Scotland<\/a>, is the subject of a new Scottish government paper that has suggested bridges, tunnels or causeways could link the island to the mainland.<\/p>\n

The island is currently accessible by boat or, less commonly, private plane \u2013 which are both modes of transport that are obviously affected by inclement weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Driving does admittedly seem like a less romantic way of reaching a remote island than via a boat sailing through the mist. But at least it\u2019s more reliable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new paper, which is part of Scotland\u2019s National Islands Plan, found that a more reliable and speedier route to getting on and off the island could offer \u2018lasting benefits for communities, businesses and visitors alike\u2019. It follows a similar review in 2022 that suggested long-term advantages of such links.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Mull wasn\u2019t the only Scottish island that got a mention in the paper. Other new fixed\u00a0crossings could\u00a0see\u00a0Barra (nicknamed the \u2018Scottish Caribbean\u2019<\/a>) connected with the Uist islands, which themselves could be linked to\u00a0Harris and Lewis.<\/p>\n

A new bridge to the mainland, making travel easier and making Mull better connected to the mainland \u2013 seems like a no-brainer, right? But there are potential downsides to the crossing. The report noted that there was a danger of \u2018a perception of eroded island identity\u2019 as the area would be \u2018permanently changed\u2019.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the National Islands Plan also acknowledged: \u2018While some see them as transformative opportunities, others prefer to prioritise investment in existing transport modes. The perspective of islanders will therefore remain central to guiding our work in this area.\u2019<\/p>\n

The proposed changes won\u2019t come cheap, either. The 2022 review estimated that the three suggested\u00a0crossings could cost a total of \u00a31.29bn.<\/p>\n

\"Isle
\nPhotograph: Shutterstock <\/p>\n

A Transport Scotland spokesperson told BBC News<\/a>: \u2018The Scottish government remains committed to taking forward work on the three proposed fixed links. The next step is in determining whether there is a robust enough business case and local support to progress these options for more detailed consideration.<\/p>\n

\u2018The business cases for a potential Sound of Harris, Sound of Barra fixed links and a fixed link between Mull and the Scottish mainland would need to consider the benefits, costs and challenges associated with these interventions and would further consider the feasibility of improving island connectivity through these additional fixed links.\u2019<\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: sign up to our\u00a0free Time Out UK newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the UK\u2019s most remote islands may be about to become a lot less remote. The picturesque…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4821,59,57,58,50,4822,387,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-462408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-categories-travel","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-news-transport-travel","tag-travel","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}