‘Media village’ hopes boosted by grant award

HOPES that the Western Isles will be soon home to its own ‘media village’ have been boosted by the awarding of an European grant towards the building of a two million pound creative media centre.

Thanks to a million pounds from the European Regional Development Fund, a former Harris Tweed mill is to be turned into studios, workspaces and offices.

The remainder of the funding is understood to be coming from the local authority.

Says a report in the Press & Journal newspaper: “The two-storey premises neighbours the council-owned Seaforth Road TV studios and headquarters of MG Alba, which runs the recently-launched digital channel in partnership with the BBC.”

And the paper quotes local MSP, Alasdair Allen, saying: “I hope this will mean that we will now have a real media village in the islands that is capable of supporting the growing demand for Gaelic television and radio and that we will see some real high-quality jobs brought into the islands.”