Islanders celebrate start of new homes

Published on Wednesday 16 March 2005 02:53

THE first major housing development on Gigha was launched yesterday, the third anniversary of the island’s community buy-out.

Eighteen low-cost homes are being built for some of the 130 residents and to encourage incoming families, vital to the island’s future.

The Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust bought the island in March 2002. A survey then showed only one of the 41 houses the trust took over was in good condition. In all, 75 per cent of housing available for permanent let was considered below tolerable standard and the rest in "serious disrepair".

The trust negotiated increased housing improvement grants to tackle the problem.

A ceremony was held yesterday as Fyne Homes cut the sod for the first of its houses. Robert Reid, the company chairman, said: "Regeneration in rural Scotland is continually held back through a lack of affordable and appropriate housing. Developments such as this one help us address this."

The community also marked the completion of the first two houses to be upgraded under an energy efficiency programme launched last year, to install solar panels, insulation and multi-fuel stoves.

Willie McSporran, the trust chairman, said: "For years we lived with declining standards in housing. After buying the island it was our priority to address the intolerable housing conditions and liberate the community from fuel poverty. Improving housing on Gigha is central to the sustainability of the island.

"More importantly, it redresses the shocking conditions of the housing, ensuring that people on Gigha have the same rights to warm, dry, affordable housing as anyone else in Scotland."