NEW LAND FUND MEANS NEW OPPORTUNITY

Community Land Scotland has warmly welcomed the announcement that £6 million is to be available for the next generation of community land buy-outs.

Speaking after the announcement by Environment and Climate Change Minister, Stewart Stevenson MSP, David Cameron, Chairman of Community Land Scotland, the representative body for Scotland’s community land owners, said,

“This is first rate news. With this new land fund comes new opportunity for more communities to share in the benefits of taking control of the land on which they live and work. Already a new confidence has been growing within the communities which have taken control, new economic opportunities are being created, once dying communities are reviving and growing. It is simply great that more communities will now be able to get support to take the opportunity of owning their own land and future.”

David Cameron was speaking following the announcement made at the 5^th anniversary celebrations of the last major buyout at Galson, on the island of Lewis.

Community Land Scotland, established only a year ago, has been campaigning for a new land fund and wider policy changes to promote more community ownership. David Cameron said,

“A year ago there was a sense that the momentum had gone out of the movement toward more communities taking over their land, following rapid progress in the early part of the new century. We are pleased the Scottish Government has taken action to ensure that momentum can be regained and I look forward to the new fund being heavily subscribed and used in the years to come, and I hope that, as in the first Land Fund, if demand is sufficient, the fund will be increased to meet that demand.”

Community Land Scotland particularly welcomed the involvement of Highlands and Islands Enterprise in the arrangements to administer the new fund, alongside the Big Lottery. David Cameron said,

“HIE have been the key agency in making things happen in the purchase of land in the past. They understand how communities work and the kind of support they need to progress and we are delighted they are again to have a central role, this can only be for the good and increase the prospects of communities making real progress.

”What we now need is active promotion of the fund to communities who can aspire to a better future, through their ownership and active management of the land they occupy, bringing new investment and the promoting new opportunities.”

Hebrides Today brings you the latest news from the Western Isles