Payback time for islanders' dream

Published on Tuesday 16 March 2004 00:00

SOAKED to the skin they stood in the driving rain, glowing with pride amid the Hebridean mist. Above them, their message of achievement adorned a flag blowing furiously in the strong wind. La paigheadh an deich ceud mile - £1 million. Paid in full.

The celebration, as bright and optimistic as the sky was grey and gloomy, resembled the scene two years ago when the residents of Gigha and owners of the island formally became one and the same.

Then, the last private owner of Gigha, Derek Holt, was given 4 million for the island and the land-reform movement was given another high-profile symbol of advancement.

Yesterday the islanders and their supporters gathered, not just to mark the second anniversary of the takeover, but to onour a pledge to give back 1 million from the purchase price, provided by 3.5 million from the Scottish Land Fund and 500,000 from the Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s community land unit.

On cue, the islanders produced a suitcase full of cash - in reality some cash and bits of paper as a prop for the cameras - while the real exchange was done electronically.

Amid the joy, there was also the serious business of reflecting on what has been achieved in the two years of community ownership and looking forward to future plans for the island.

Willie McSporran, the chairman of the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust, said: "The last two years have been a major challenge for the island, a challenge to which the folk of Gigha have risen magnificently.

"Faced with continuing decline, did we really have an option? There’s a way to go yet but with new jobs, new houses, new businesses, we are now well on our way."

The target was largely reached by the sale of Achamore House, the largest property on the island and once the laird’s home. It was sold in October to Don Dennis, an American businessman who has relocated from Sussex and has already created five jobs on the island, with more to come.

The sale to Mr Dennis, who runs the International Flower Essence Repertoire firm, brought in 650,000 to the trust. Another 170,000 came from local fundraising events, donations and sales of items of Gigha tartan and limited-edition whisky, and 30,000 from BT, who bought out the annual wayleaves, the money spent on access to their lines. A further 150,000 was raised by selling land for three craft units and 23 new houses - the first on the island for 25 years - including 18 affordable homes.

For Lorna MacAllister, the school’s head teacher, and her husband, Archie, it means being able to build their own home on Gigha after 20 years of trying, while for others a repair programme will see the first significant work on their properties since they were built in the 1960s.

The changes are evident elsewhere. Thirty years ago, the population was nearly 200, but by the time of the takeover it was down to 98, one of the worst cases of decline of any Hebridean island. In the past two years it has shown one of the greatest growth rates, rising to 123 and set to expand further.

The primary-school roll, which dropped from 28 in the early 1980s to six at the time of the buy-out, has more than doubled to 13.

And an economy which last saw a new large-scale enterprise in the 1970s and no new small businesses in five years before community ownership, has now seen six new start-ups in 24 months, bringing a total of 11 jobs so far and three expected shortly.

The optimism has brought people to live on the island, some for the first time, others returning because of new opportunities. Catriona Scott, who had to leave Gigha when her house was sold for a holiday home in the days of private ownership, has returned to take up a job with Mr Dennis.

Caroline and Russell Town moved to Gigha with their three children, Cassandra, 12, Bethany, ten, and Serena, eight, from Lincolnshire and now run the island post office and store.

Mrs Town said: "We had decided we wanted to move to Scotland and we saw Gigha in the newspapers and we are so glad we came.

"The kids are really happy, they enjoy the freedom. And being able to earn a living and live in a community and environment like this is an added bonus and we are so lucky we can do both."

New businesses setting up include the award-winning Hebridean Toffee, set up on Barra by Karen and Gerry Porter, which is to make Gigha Fudge from one of the new craft units.

Mr Porter said: "We have been impressed with the welcome the community has given us. Everyone is so positive that we are incredibly enthusiastic about what can be achieved here."

Later this year, it is hoped to start work on erecting three wind turbines on the island in a 370,000 development which will eventually bring in up to 100,000 a year income, while the three existing farms are being expanded and a fourth created.

The progress was applauded yesterday by supporters who said it answered the critics of land reform. George Lyon, the Argyll and Bute MP, told the gathering: "It is staggering what has been achieved so far. It was a new dawn when you took over the island, it was the end of feudal ownership and the beginning of community ownership and what a success you have made of it.

"There is no shortage of those willing to criticise or snipe, and indeed some who even hoped you would not be successful. You have silenced the critics with your success."

Brian Wilson, the former Scottish Office minister who set up the community land unit in 1997, said more than 300 cases have been dealt with and 134 from the land fund.

"We have now created a new normality, when people take control of their own destiny, run their own affairs, build their own future, create the opportunities for their children instead of having a big house which dominates proceedings over all who live under it.

"If that can be done in Gigha it can be done in many other places as well. That is why Gigha is not just a great success story, it is also a shining example to any other communities in the Highlands and Islands.

"What you now have here is constancy, assurance, continuity and the knowledge that for generations to come it is the people who live in this place who will control the destiny of this place. That is what land reform is about and what is gloriously exemplified by what has happened in the last two years on Gigha.

"Gigha has given the critics the answer and I believe every time the answer is given some of the critics fade away and they are silenced not by words but by deeds."