St Kilda visitor centre planned for Lewis

Published on Thursday 29 October 2009 21:06

TOURISTS and visitors fascinated by the story of St Kilda won't have to travel to the remote islands to learn more about the community that lived there.

An area of Lewis has been chosen as the preferred site for a planned St Kilda visitor centre, telling the story of the remotest part of the British Isles.

The popularity of the island group has led to proposals for a visitors centre

but due to St Kilda's location, it has been decided to locate it in more a accessible part of the Outer Hebrides at Mangersta in Uig.

Other sites considered were Cleitreval in North Uist and Leverburgh in Harris.

Angus MacCormack, chairman of the St Kilda Centre working group, said: "This was a very difficult decision for the consultants to reach. All three site locations are viable and the potential for development strong in each area.

"The proposals were extremely well presented and developed by the community groups. The consultants have now undergone a detailed process which had to make one recommendation from the three submissions."