The Scottish Languages Act passed last year creates an opportunity to provide a much stronger basis for support for Gaelic communities.  The Act identifies that ward areas with over 20% of the population with Gaelic skills must be designated as Areas of Linguistic Significance (ASL).  Skye and Raasay - Ward 10 - meets that criterion. 

• We believe that Highland Council Ward 10 Eilean a' Cheò and, separately, other areas within Highland with over 20%, must be designated as Areas of Linguistic Significance (ALS) under Criterion 1 of the Scottish Languages Act (as required by Point 29 of the Statutory Guidance).
   
• We believe that the proposal by Highland Council to consult on making a single, local authority-wide Area of Linguistic Significance is not a fair or reasonable basis for consultation. The current proposal will mean less work for the Council but risks a meaningless process and a duplication of their existing Highland-wide Gaelic Language Plan. 
  
  
• We believe that the consultation should be delivered, based on proposals for Ward or Associated School Group (ASGs) basis to ensure maximum potential for differential policy in areas where more can be done to support the language and its community of speakers.
  
  
• ALS designation must be coordinated with Community Language Plans to ensure maximum interface between policy, service provision and the Gaelic communities. 
  
  

From the Statutory Guidance on designation:

The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended, outlines four steps involved in proposals by local authorities to designate an “Area of Linguistic Significance”:

a. Consideration of areas for designation, based on specified criteria 
b. Consideration of proposal for designation 
c. Consultation with relevant stakeholders and publicising proposal 
d. Submission of proposal for designation to the Scottish Ministers 

5. An area must be considered for designation as an Area of Linguistic Significance if the proportion of people with Gaelic language skills amounts to 20% or more of the area’s overall population. 

21. This guidance has underlined the potential advantages of using electoral wards as a relevant geographical unit for designation purposes.  Having provided an explanation of the designation criteria above, this section provides a summary of the designation options open to local authorities, along with relevant examples. It continues with the recommendation of electoral wards as the initial area for local authorities to focus on when considering the designation of an Area of Linguistic Significance while still recognising the benefits and possibilities in other approaches.

29. If local authorities conclude that either the local authority area as a whole, or a constituent part thereof, contains a population of which 20% or more have Gaelic skills, they must formally consider whether they will propose designation of the area(s) in question as Areas of Linguistic Significance to the Scottish Ministers.