成人快手 Scotland - 成人快手 Scotland - 鈥淚t鈥檚 not utopia鈥� 鈥� 16 years on from when the community took control of the tiny Isle of Gigha, off Scotland鈥檚 west coast

鈥淚t鈥檚 not utopia鈥� 鈥� 16 years on from when the community took control of the tiny Isle of Gigha, off Scotland鈥檚 west coast

16 February 2018

It seems like a story from the big screen: and taking control of their own destiny. But this is what happened in 2002 when the Isle of Gigha was purchased for £4m in a community buyout. to find out whether self-governance is a dream – or a nightmare.

“Without question, the buyout has been a good thing. We’ve got B&Bs that can flourish, we’ve got a restaurant, we’ve got more kids in our school. People are able to buy and own their own houses for the first time.

“We’ve spent about £4m improving, insulating and upgrading the homes that the [Isle of Gigha Hertage] Trust owns.

“[We’ve had] benevolent landlords. You can’t say that private ownership of land is exclusively bad, because it isn’t. But there was a sustained period of under-investment in the fabric of this island.

“Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Without doubt there’s more squabbling, more infighting, perhaps more cliquey aspects to living here than there was prior to the formation of the Trust. But you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth.”

“We never had any real bad landlords. I personally would rather have a benevolent dictator than this so-called democracy we have.

We still have a lot to pay back yet. It鈥檚 not utopia.

“I voted against [the buyout]. Not that I didn’t want the island, I wanted it very much. But I knew that it would be difficult, there would be great difficulty in running the place. It’s not utopia.

“I’ve lived all over the world and there’s nowhere better than Gigha on a summer’s day. People come and think ‘Ah, I want to live here’. But then the winter comes and the gales come and the rain comes and they can’t get off the island, or they can’t get back on. And this is where their idea of utopia changes and they get bitter.

“I would try and bring in young people. Without children we have nothing. We need children so we have teachers and people get educated, and then come back and get some good business going. The people that come into the island... we need them to have jobs.”

Residents have backed a community buyout plan for the island of Ulva.
How Gigha鈥檚 population has changed since the buyout in 2002.
A crowdfunding appeal looks set to be launched to help fund a community buyout at Cape Wrath in Sutherland.
Residents of the Isle of Eigg are marking 20 years since a community buyout of the island.
The residents of Wanlockhead havey lofty ambitions for its future.
MSPs have passed a bill giving communities the right to buy land or buildings in their area.

Ian Marchant journeys to the Inner Hebridean island of Gigha, off the west coast of Scotland to discover how life has changed since the community buyout.