Author: Gillian Loney, The Extra

The future of Pollokshields is in the hands of its community, thanks to a project never before seen in Glasgow.

Pollokshields Community Council is launching a charrette — a week of intense consultation on any future plans for East Pollokshields.

Charrettes are commonly run by local authorities but, in a first for the city, the community council has raised the funds to make it happen, with a matching contribution from the Scottish Government.

Make Your Mark has endorsement from Glasgow City Council — and community council chair Bill Fraser hopes that it will help shape the neighbourhood in years to come.

He told The Extra: “It’s taken 18 months to get here, and started when we approached Glasgow City Council to complete a local plan for the area — which they said they couldn’t do until the end of the decade.

“What’s exciting is that we’re managing it. We’ll then present the findings to the city council, from a community point of view.

“We want to address social and economic problems and suggest ways forward — maybe a community anchor organisation. It’s about saying that we won’t sit back and let things happen, but take an active role instead.”

Make Your Mark runs February 21-27, although the team have an HQ at 553 Shields Road until the end of March, available to local groups as a meeting place.

Marco Biagi, minister for community empowerment, commented: “The Scottish Government is delighted to support the East Pollokshields Make Your Mark charrette, one of 17 that we are investing in.

“The East Pollokshields charrette is using the new Place Standard tool, which allows people to assess the physical and social qualities of their place, and think about improvements.

“Harnessing the knowlege and energy of communities, through approaches like charrettes and the Place Standard, can be transformational.”

Findings will be presented to the public on March 20, with a Q&A session including a panel of elected representatives.

Author: Karen Grant, Reforesting Scotland

Last night at the Scottish Parliament, Reforesting Scotland will celebrate the launch of its new guide to help planners and hut builders respond to the emerging opportunities for huts in Scotland. At an event attended by 80 members of the planning, building and design communities, Reforesting Scotland explained why Scotland’s planning authorities are likely to receive a new generation of planning applications from hutters encouraged by recent developments in the policy and regulatory framework for huts.

Welcoming the report, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Richard Lochhead said:

“Huts and hutting are a great way for people to enjoy Scotland’s outstanding natural environment, with all the benefits to health and wellbeing this can bring. I very much welcome the publication of this guidance, which I hope will provide an important opportunity for many more people in Scotland to enjoy the recreational benefits associated with huts and hutting.”

Scotland has a strong hutting history, but numbers have declined in recent years due to a lack of a planning policy and regulatory framework for new huts. However, the tide turned when Scottish Planning Policy 2014 included supportive policy on huts, indicating that the demand for huts for recreational use is one of the matters that should be addressed in the preparation of development plans. Now the Scottish Government Building Standards Division is analysing consultation responses to the proposal that huts be exempt from building regulations.

Ninian Stuart, a Director of Reforesting Scotland and founder of the Thousand Huts campaign said, “Our new guidance is designed to support planners and future hut builders to create new hut developments which will enhance people’s health and happiness by spending time in Scotland’s amazing landscapes. It will also help planning authorities develop their own policy and supplementary guidance on huts. We have 800 people on our books who are keen to have access to a simple hut in nature and we believe that’s just the beginning.”

Download a copy of New hutting developments: Good practice guidance on the planning, development and management of huts and hut sites

Author: Civil Exchange

The think tank Civil Exchange is to extend its watch over the voluntary sector’s relationship with government over claims the coming 18 months will be critical in defining the sector’s future independence.

Civil Exchange plans to build on the work of the Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector, a three year study that concluded that democracy and good government are damaged when the voice of third sector organisations are view as a threat.

The panel published its final report, An Independent Mission: the voluntary sector in 2015, in February this year.

Now Civil Exchange is set to produce two further annual assessments of the independence of the voluntary sector and its relationship with the state. One area it will be focusing on is devolution, and whether it can help to improve relationships between the third sector and the state.

Civil Exchange director Caroline Slocock said: “The next 18 months will be critical for the voluntary sector’s independence and we will be keeping a very close eye on developments and documenting them in two new reports.

“David Cameron has said he wants a smarter state, in which government and the voluntary sector work collaboratively to help those who are hardest to reach, but this would require a huge shift in culture and practice. We will be exploring whether recent negative trends can be reversed – which include contract terms and legislation that restrict the sector’s independent voice; reduced consultation; and weak protections and regulation to stop state interference. We will also look at whether devolution will make genuine collaboration easier.

“We’ll also be considering whether the voluntary sector and its regulators are doing all they can to maintain the sector’s independent mission. Some big charities have come under increasing fire in recent months, raising legitimate questions about whether they are genuinely following their mission and values in everything they do.”

Civil Exchange will deliver two annual reports in early 2016 and 2017, filling the gap between the Panel on Independenc and the expected launch of a new independent commission on the future of the voluntary sector in 2017.

As well as providing an annual assessment of the sector’s independence, the two reports will review developments in the wider relationship of the state and voluntary sector, including what has happened to the Big Society – which was included in the Conservative election manifesto – and will look at promising opportunities as well as threats. Before the election, Civil Exchange produced three annual Big Society Audits, the last one of which, Whose Society? The Final Big Society Audit, branded the initiative a failure.

Slocock concluded: “If you’ve got examples of what’s working or not working or just have views, do let us know, so we can build them into the reports.”

Author: Susan Smith, TFN

Susan Smith questions whether Scotland’s youth work sector is really worth half a billion pounds

The problem with social good is that it’s really hard to measure. We all know that helping people in a rut makes them healthier and happier and better able to contribute to society themselves, but exactly how much does it help?

YouthLink Scotland has this week put a financial value on youth work with the publication of a Social Return on Investment model citing £7 return for every £1 spent. This suggests that Scotland’s youth work sector contributes half a billion pounds to the economy. Impressive.

But does it?

You cannot measure the ingredients that go into creating a healthy human being

Imagine a young woman who grows up in care, competes for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, gets a degree in sports science, becomes a PE teacher and ends up a role model for the next generation. What led to her success? Was it foster carers, teachers, natural talent that encouraged her to work hard, a fighting spirit that motivated her to improve her lot, friends and family or a fantastic youth group? Was it all of these things or something else entirely? How much did each element contribute?

This also begs the question – how much is this paragon of society worth herself? Does her value lie in how much tax she pays or her spending power? Does she get credit for a slice of Commonwealth Games ticket sales? How much is the inspiration she provides to her pupils, who have a little more ambition by association, worth?

The third sector is under a huge pressure to justify investment in services that some sections of question the value of. But people are not commodities. You can measure how much time and money is spent making ice-cream and come up with an accurate return on investment, but you cannot measure the ingredients that go into creating a human being.

If believing Scotland’s youth worth sector is worth half a billion pounds justifies its paltry £90 million annual investment – that’s just £90 a child – then fantastic, let’s believe it. In reality though youth groups across Scotland are giving our young people the chance to have fun, make friends, learn skills, develop talents and grow into the adult they will one day become. That’s not worth half a billion pounds – it’s priceless.

Susan Smith is editor of Third Force News.

Author: CCF

Community groups across Scotland are being invited to apply for a share of over £10 million Scottish Government funding for action against climate change.

The hugely successful Climate Challenge Fund has supported 756 community-led schemes since 2008, including energy efficiency, sustainable travel and local food growing projects.

Climate Change Minister Aileen McLeod has confirmed the fund will continue for another year, after it was allocated £10.3 million in the Scottish Government’s Draft Budget 2016-17.

Dr McLeod said:

“Climate change affects us all, and the historic global agreement reached in Paris sets the stage for the effort and action that we will all need to take.

“Scotland is already three quarters of the way towards achieving our world-leading target of a 42 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. But further action is needed by all of us – not just the Government – to achieve further reductions.

“I welcome the efforts being made by hundreds of communities the length and breadth of Scotland to tackle the local impacts of a changing climate. I am pleased to confirm Scottish Government support for this action will continue with a further £10.3 million investment in the Climate Challenge Fund over the next year.”

We manage the Climate Challenge Fund on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Derek Robertson, Chief Executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said:

“We welcome the new funding made available through the Climate Challenge Fund for community-led organisations across Scotland to tackle climate change at a grass roots level, and urge potential applicants to apply quickly.

“It has been a great privilege for us to have been involved with managing and developing the Climate Challenge Fund, on behalf of the Scottish Government, since the Fund was established in 2008.  

“We look forward to supporting the latest community-led organisations with their applications and see this is part of our work to help make Scotland clean, green and more sustainable.”

Applications for grants of up to £150,000 per project are invited now:

-Community-led organisations currently in receipt of a CCF grant must have submitted a completed application by19/02/16

-All other community-led organisations must have submitted an Expression of Interest by 5/02/16 and a completed application by 19/02/16

More on the application process, deadlines and ideas for projects at www.climatechallengefund.org

Author: New Start Magazine

In 1965, a plan was put in place to tackle ‘the Highland problem’, a seemingly unstoppable downward spiral affecting the whole economy of the Highlands and Islands.

That plan was the creation of the Highlands and Islands Development Board (HIDB). Operating across half of Scotland, the board had two aims: assisting the people of the Highlands and Islands to improve their economic and social conditions, and enabling the region to play a more effective part in the growth of the nation. Armed with an initial budget of just £150,000 and six members of staff, HIDB set about making the Highlands and Islands an attractive place to live, work, study and invest.

Fifty years on, and renamed Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the agency now serves a remarkably transformed region. Overall population has increased by more than 20% to just under 470,000, employment levels are up and unemployment figures are below the national average. Today, HIE is helping to grow more than 600 businesses and social enterprises and is supporting 44 communities with their aspirations for the future.

‘Over the last 50 years, we’ve learned a lot about economic development that can be replicated across the UK and further afield’

From ‘problem’ to economic success story

HIDB’s first annual report included sections on agriculture, forestry, tourism, crofting and fishing, and on the idea of a ‘Highland university’. Manufacturing was seen as ‘urgent’ in halting the emigration of young people from the region, and the Moray Firth was viewed as having great development potential.

Connecting the region to markets and suppliers was one of the greatest challenges and the board set its sights on improving transport infrastructure and services. Beyond the traditional industries of the region, the 1960s also saw the UK’s prototype fast nuclear reactor arrive in Dounreay, stimulating supply chain activity and developing exportable technology.

Meanwhile, several companies began exploring the potential of fish farming in the region. From its earliest days, the board recognised that developing a strong aquaculture industry had significant potential to support employment in many of the more remote areas, where alternative opportunities were scarce.

Making the most of the region’s assets and attracting investment

Over time, investment in infrastructure and training helped the region become ideally placed to benefit from the growth in the energy sector – initially from North Sea oil and gas, then from renewable energy, with the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney cementing Scotland’s global lead in marine renewables.

As transport links improved, the issue of connectivity began to focus on telecommunications, through collaboration with companies such as BT and Vodafone. Not only did this help Highlands and Islands businesses to market themselves further afield, it enabled the region to attract inward investment and benefit from new ventures such as call centres.

With improved transport links, communications and increased availability of business premises, the appeal of the region quickly became clear to another important sector crucial to a successful region – universities.

Heriot Watt University, University of Aberdeen, University of Stirling, Robert Gordon University, Scotland’s Rural College and the Glasgow School of Art all have a presence in the region. And, of course, the University of the Highlands and Islands operates through a partnership of 13 independent colleges and research institutions from Lerwick to Perth.

Giving people greater control

Community development has become a central component of Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s strategic approach.

Since the advent of the Scottish Parliament, land reform legislation has enabled HIE to support widespread community ownership of land and assets, giving local people greater control over their own futures.

The Scottish Government’s Scottish Land Fund (SLF) is now delivered by HIE and the Big Lottery Fund. The most recent SLF funding awards brought the total amount of community-owned land in the Highlands and Islands to 455,422 acres.

HIE’s Community Energy Unit has also evolved into a stand-alone social enterprise delivering community energy projects across the country.

Fifty years on, the Highlands and Islands has seen a dramatic transformation in its prosperity and global status. From Shetland to Argyll, and from the Outer Hebrides to Moray, examples of flourishing and ambitious businesses, social enterprises, communities and individuals abound. Population has increased, unemployment is lower than the rest of the country, increasing numbers of young people want to stay in the region and several growth sectors such as life sciences, renewable energy and creative industries have emerged.

Over the last 50 years, we’ve learned a lot about economic development that can be replicated across the UK and further afield. Make the most of your cultural assets – here for example, Gaelic has been embraced to help strengthen communities and promote the region as a prime location for business, education and tourism. Investment has been made in facilities – strong broadband and mobile communication networks, development of sites and improvement to transport have been made to underpin economic growth.

HIE continues to have ambitious plans for the future. It will be characterised by dynamic, sustainable communities, and a globally-connected region that is attractive, particularly to young people, as a place to live, work study and invest. Here’s to the next 50 years of development.

Author: Myra Shearer, Vice Chair, Ericht Trust Board

Position Statement from the Ericht Trust Board 

It is now three months since the Ericht Trust was informed through our lawyer that we were not the preferred bidder for the Old Hill Primary Site in Blairgowrie.  Since then the Trust has met on several occasions to consider its position.  

To bring you up to date, the site has been offered to Corryard, a developer from Crieff.  It is their intention to convert the 3 buildings into residential properties.  They are currently surveying the buildings. 

Since November Hamilton Scott, who owns the Blairgowrie Printers, has had to consider how to deal with a listed building and valuable print machinery. He is currently in discussion with the Conservation Officer from the Perth and Kinross Council and officers from Historic Environment Scotland to find a solution.  They all viewed moving the Blairgowrie Printers to the Old School as the ideal solution but that is no longer an option.

The Ericht Trust has been approached on several occasions in the last few weeks about possible alternative sites in the town for our development.  We have investigated all of these but to date consider none would be suitable.

The Ericht Trust has spent over £60,000 in developing plans for the Old Hill Primary site all of which was raised through grants or donations.  We have carried out a full Building Condition Survey, a Bat Survey, a Topographical Survey, a Structural Survey, Mechanical and Engineering Survey, a Measured Survey, Slater’s Roof Survey, a Valuation Survey and an Asbestos Survey.  An architect was commissioned to produce detailed drawings, a quantity surveyor produced a full costing plan. Acoustic and Fire Engineers were consulted and a Cinema Consultant was engaged. A business consultant provided a full breakdown of profit and loss over an initial 5-year period and extensive constructive consultations were undertaken with PKC Planning Department and Historic Environment Scotland.  In the last 6 months we have employed a funding director, a heritage consultant and a catering consultant. All of these reports would have been used to make the lottery application for development costs had we been the preferred bidder.  We also had in place the offer of a grant from SSE to buy the building. 

 To transfer all of this work to another site is not possible.  To split it between a number of sites would not be financially viable.  The plans worked because the commercial aspects of the development supported the museum and the print works which would not have been profitable in isolation.  In considering another site, the Trust would have to commission much of this work again and having received grants for the initial investigations it is unlikely that the various bodies would award a further grant for basically the same work.

Perth and Kinross Council wrote to our lawyer in November informing him that Corryard was the preferred bidder, but if they failed to proceed within a reasonable timescale, the Ericht Trust would be approached again.  No detail of any timescale was given but this will not be an option for the Trust as the offer of the grant to buy the building will have lapsed and all the costs will need to be revised.  The print works may also have been sold and the whole business plan would have to be reworked.  The Trust would need to raise considerable funds to complete this work again. 

We, as Trustees are extremely disappointed at the outcome after 4 years work especially as the Community Empowerment Bill, which received Royal Assent in 2015 makes it clear that the Government wish communities to become the dominant voice in local development. To quote “Community Bodies will have the right to buy, lease or manage land and buildings belonging to local authorities.  There will be a presumption of agreement to requests unless there are reasonable grounds for refusal”

 We do not think there were reasonable grounds to refuse the bid from the Ericht Trust and we should have been allowed to make the lottery bid. If that had failed the council would still have been in a position to sell the buildings for development.  Much needed facilities have been lost to the town and are unlikely to be developed in the near future because PKC focus is entirely on developing more housing with no additional facilities.  As the largest town in Perthshire, Blairgowrie is severely lacking any indoor attractions, which is what we were trying to provide. Entertainment and leisure facilities should be an integral part of a cohesive society if the town is to be more than a dormitory town.

Some members of the community would like an enquiry into the decision making process, others have talked of a judicial review.

The Ericht Trust would like our three locally elected representatives to establish how the bids were scored on the Criteria for Best Consideration and Best Value sheet, and give reasons why we did not succeed. Why was a community based project judged using a competitive process against a commercial bid? It is in the public interest that these decisions are made openly and transparently if we are to believe in a democratic government.

To date all this information has been denied to the Trust, the Press and the Community Council.

info@theerichttrust.co.uk

www.theerichttrust.co.uk

Author: Pete Ritchie, Nourish Scotland

It’s not about the food:

community food hubs, and why we need them 

The food system in Scotland is manifestly unfair and unsustainable.  Across all income groups we eat too much sugar and fat and not enough fibre.  Too much meat – especially processed meat – is not good for our health; and it’s disastrous for the planet in terms of deforestation and climate change. 

People on low incomes spend proportionally three times as much on food as the top 10% of Scots, but still can’t afford to feed themselves and their families well and are much more likely to have food-related health problems.  

The food and drink sector accounts for one in seven jobs in Scotland, and far too many of the low wage and insecure jobs which make life a struggle.  Meanwhile most of the farm subsidies go to the bigger more prosperous farms, while the environment budget gets squeezed. 

Globally, we rely for our food on an increasing share of other countries’ land, and the food system is the major cause of a 50% decline in the world’s wildlife since 1970.  Food accounts for between 25 and 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions,  and although household food waste has fallen a bit, across the whole supply chain one third of our food is wasted.  Most of the chicken, turkey and pork we eat comes from factory farms.

We know the problems: and when it comes to recommendations there’s a familiar four part structure. 

1 Government – Holyrood, Westminster, Brussels needs to change the way the system works through policy, regulation, taxation and subsidies.  

2 Businesses need to reformulate, raise welfare standards, waste less, treat suppliers fairly, look to the long term.  Farmers need to work with nature, not against it. 

3 We need better social security and better jobs, to make it easier for everyone to afford good food.

4 And of course individuals need to make better choices: we consumers need to get better at navigating our obesogenic industrialised food environment, better at reading labels and better at cooking.

Nourish agrees: all these things matter, though educating consumers is clearly a weak strategy on its own – since according to the Food Standards Agency 15 years of campaigns have had zero impact on the Scottish diet.  But there’s something missing: community. 

Scotland has just passed the Community Empowerment Act, recognising what communities can achieve when they get organised.  There’s been some great work through the Climate Challenge Fund, helping communities make a difference.  Behind that, there’s a strong tradition of community development in Scotland, exemplified by the Scottish Community Alliance and underlined recently in the Big Lottery’s  strengths-based, people led approach. 

So what can a community development approach bring to tackling these big food issues?  First, it can help us think straight.  Since the start of the recession, two approaches to tackling food insecurity have become the norm. 

Charity-run food banks solicit donations of food and money from the public and provide food parcels to individuals who are referred to them by official agencies.  Another system takes surplus food from supermarkets and distributes it to charities – and in some cases to food banks.

Both these approaches are charitable, well-intended and valued by the beneficiaries – but they are not community development.  A community development approach to improving the way we do food in our community would have a number of features: 

·         People find their own language for defining the problem and why it’s a problem for them.

·         People recognise and build on the strengths and assets of the community

·         People are involved in leading and managing whatever gets done: and that may mean struggling with structures, governance and inclusiveness

·         People start from an expectation of dignity, decency and entitlement as citizens

·         People are engaged in collective action, working together to improve things for others as well as themselves

·         People hold government and institutions to account, and advocate for change in law, policy and practice. 

So what does that look like in practice?  Maybe it’s a community meal once a week. Maybe it’s a new social custom to invite someone living  alone to come and share a meal.  Maybe it’s the community deciding to grow the veg for the school meals, or running a campaign to improve the food in the local hospital.  Maybe it’s a ‘destitution cupboard’ where some people can help themselves to food if they need it, or put food in when they can afford it. Maybe it’s running a food co-op, or connecting with a local farm, or opening a community shop or café.  Maybe it’s getting together to buy rice or coffee from a community on the other side of the world.  Maybe it’s a campaign against zero-hour contracts.

Initiatives like this, and many more, are already out there in Scotland’s communities – but much more is possible.  Nourish wants to see this lively but often quite isolated activity develop into a national network of community food ‘hubs’ .  These hubs could be physical walk-in places providing some of these practical services, or organisations like housing associations, community food social enterprises, or development trusts.  For each hub, whether it covers a ward in a city or a big rural area, their job is to use and support a community-led approach to food – to ask ‘how can community action on food strengthen this community?’.

Broomhouse Health Strategy Group – Addressing Food Poverty in SW Edinburgh 

The Broomhouse Health Strategy Group has been working for 25 years to improve health and wellbeing in SW Edinburgh.  The volunteer-run fruit and vegetable shop has been at the heart of the organisation since it began, open every weekday morning.  The shop sells up to £400 worth of fresh fruit & vegetables, milk, eggs and dried staple goods each week. 

The shop is a highly valued social hub for the area, sharing news of services and listening to the needs of all the community.  The shop is creative in encouraging cooking from scratch, selling 17 varieties of £1 Soup Bags (all the fresh ingredients & spices, plus easy recipe) as well as 11 varieties of Meal Recipe Bags (eg £1.50 Tomato pasta inc. 400g pasta bag).  It is ideal for those on low incomes, selling everything loose in the quantities required. 

Any profits the shop makes are put into promotions eg. half price soup bags.  Core funding for the overheads, and the Volunteer Support Worker salary come from Charitable Trust funding, and NHS funding. 

Through listening to local needs many cookery services have developed over the years for adults and children, building on the availability of affordable fresh food. 

Local people are central to the planning and delivery of all our services. We engage with a very broad range in the local community not just through our shop and range of services, but through the shop volunteers and trustees who are all local people. 

Because it’s not about the food.  It’s about kids growing up healthy.  It’s about mums and dads not being worried about running out of food.  It’s about people making connections, enjoying themselves with food, trying something new.  It’s about worthwhile work.  It’s about caring for other people, and for the environment.  It’s about feeling ‘we can make a difference’.

Author: Andrew Learmonth, The National

GLASGOW City Council has approved plans to allow a developer to build 90 new flats on a “community-created” green space.

Campaigners who have spent the past 20 years transforming the neglected wasteland into a much-used park say the fight is not over after the council also, in principle, backed their proposal to keep the ground as it is.

Politicians criticised the “chaotic” decision taken by the council’s planning committee for taking the decision which means the council’s executive committee must now make a judgment on both plans. It also means the Scottish Government will likely get involved and call in the £10 million proposal from developers New City Vision for closer scrutiny.

Cllr Kieran Wild said the ruling Labour administration has forced the developers’ application through “against the wishes of the community”. And Green MSP Patrick Harvie said the council had nothing but “contempt” for the local residents who worked on the meadow.

“I’m disgusted by the decision that has been made today,” Harvie said. “After years of Glasgow City Council’s neglect of the site the local community worked hard together to create something inspiring, and the council’s reaction began with threats of legal action and now ends with a promise to send in the bulldozers.

“Any local council should be proud to have a community like the people who created North Kelvin Meadow, but instead they are showing nothing but contempt. I don’t expect the local residents simply to give up, and the Greens will continue to offer whatever support we can.”

The meadows were council-run football pitches and tennis courts that fell into disrepair in the early 90s. Over the last 20 years residents have planted seeds, built treehouses and renovated buildings. The meadow is now much used by local nurseries and families.

During the session yesterday, the chair of the Children’s Wood charity that runs the meadow, Emily Cutts, told councillors: “We have a strong local community that are behind this space. Our city’s motto is ‘People make Glasgow’. It’s initiatives like the Children’s Wood that make people want to live here.”

After the meeting there was much optimism on the group’s Facebook page: “Great news. The children’s wood plan has been accepted, with conditions. We’ll immediately be launching a detailed plan. The [New City Vision] plan also got accepted, but there are lots of conditions and it will go to the Scottish Government.“

MP Natalie McGarry tweeted: “How chaotic. Planning permission given for two competing plans for North Kelvin Meadow.”

A council spokesman said the new flats were needed: “The approval of this planning application from New City Vision will deliver both much-needed family homes in the West End and improve the North Kelvinside pitches facility, as well as a substantial receipt for the public purse in a time of unprecedented financial constraints for local government.”

Author: Alistair Munro, The Scotsman

A former Cold War surveillance station on a remote Scots island is being taken over in a community buyout and will be transformed into a major nature reserve.

The completion of the takeover by the Gallan Head Community Trust (GHCT) will kick-start an environmental project to create local jobs and reverse decline at Aird Uig, on the Isle of Lewis, the most north-westerly point of the UK.

The backers of the 84-acre buyout claim it would unlock ‘the Seven Wonders of a Secret Land”.

Projects are already underway to help the local economy by creating work and learning opportunities for local people.

Locals are also hoping to set up a dark skies space observatory at the old radio and radar installation which was set up at Aird Uig, Isle of Lewis, 60 years ago.

The site was part of Nato’s early warning system against Soviet submarines and aircraft, but the Ministry of Defence has no further use for the derelict buildings on the 84-acre clifftop site.

The trust also hope to place a hydrophone in the sea to pick up the sound of whales for visitors to hear.

Only 29 people were eligible for the vote about the purchase from the Ministry of Defence, which passed in a landslide vote of 21 to two, with a turnout of 79 per cent.

The buyout is the result of successful completion of the Scottish Government Community Right to Buy process.

GHCT says the MOD has been very supportive and helpful throughout the rigorous process, but that still left significant challenges to tackle.

It seemed at times that the community might not be able to find the resources to take on the land, but after more than 100 meetings all obstacles were overcome.

Artist and author Jill Smith, chair of GHCT said: “We are so fortunate to have this opportunity to share our amazing landscape and heritage to benefit our own and neighbouring communities. The Trust is highly motivated to make the most of the opportunities we now have. Small steps are already making a big difference. On behalf of the Trust I would like to express our great appreciation of the help and support we have been given by so many people.”

Jane Macintosh, head of strengthening communities at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) said: “Along with HIE and Scottish Land Fund, I am delighted that the Gallan Head Community Trust has completed their successful community buyout, which is a tribute to the hard work the group and community have invested in the project.

“Acquiring the land will give the local community the resources and control they need to deliver innovative projects for the benefit of people living in and visiting the area, to protect and promote their natural environment.

“We are looking forward to working with the trust in the future to help them realise their ambitions, and HIE is delighted to be supporting their crowd funding campaign to raise money for their exciting environmental projects.”

The community plans to return the land as much as possible to its natural state and to achieve a blueprint for conservation and land use consistent with a remarkable natural environment.

The Trust has applied for remediation funding and awaits a decision next month.

Working with partners SA Instrumentation and Stornoway Astronomical Society, the trust is striving to deliver the first phases of development during 2016.

These include the installation of a marine hydrophone so that visitors can “have a cup of tea and listen to whales”; and hopefully the installation of a planetarium inside one of the former MoD buildings.

A crowd-funding campaign is being launched today www.crowdfunder.co.uk/whales-and-tea .

Funds will go towards the creation of a visitor centre for opening this summer.

Martin Hayes, GHCT project manager said “Our approach will be to develop in small steps, engaging the community, our partners and the public at every stage.

“We especially want to involve young people wherever we can and we hope that our projects will help to encourage young families to settle here. Our flagship project, CETUS, aims to establish a multi-purpose observatory for the study of dark skies and marine wildlife”.

CETUS Patron, Astronomer Royal for Scotland Professor John Brown, is to visit Aird Uig soon to meet local people.

Whilst visiting, the professor plans to visit the Nicolson Institute to discuss opportunities for encouraging and recruiting student interest.

Work has begun on converting a house for use as the Gallan Head visitor centre, and health and safety improvements are underway to make the land safe for public access.

An opening celebration is planned for May.

A smaller celebratory gathering takes place today and will replace an imposing “keep out” sign with something more aesthetic and much more welcoming.

From that point, the land will be accessible to all comers and its secrets revealed for the first time in 65 years.

The Seven Wonders of a Secret Land are:

1 Geography The most north-westerly point of the UK, overlooking the fishing grounds of the beautiful Loch Roag: West to Greenland: North to the Faroe Islands, spectator to the journeys of the Norse and the Vikings, the migrations, the convoys, and the shipping routes of today. Some of the UK’s highest cliffs and biggest sea caves.

2 Landscape In a National Scenic Area, breath-taking views north to the Islands of Berisay, Old Hill, Pabbay, up the west coast of Lewis, across the Barvas moors, over the Uig and Harris Hills, down to St Kilda (on a clear day”!) and across to the Flannan Isles. “Amongst the finest scenery anywhere in Scotland”

3 Dark Skies There is no light pollution. On a clear night the milky way appears as a white stripe across the sky. A very good vantage point for the aurora borealis.

4 Contemporary History 100 years of surveillance through two world wars. An important part in the cold war and in operation through to 2010.

5 Heritage The Norse occupation, early theologians, the greatest fisheries, evictions and migration, last stand of the Lewis Macleods, prehistory settlers, archaeological mysteries, the missing lighthouse men; all happened here.

6 Marine wildlife Whales including Orca, Pilot, Humpback, Minke; Basking Sharks; Sunfish and porpoises, dolphins and seals. FIsh shoals and many seabirds. Amongst the clearest and least polluted of Uk waters.

7 Weather Anything can happen at any time – but you can see it coming! Wind speed in the January 2015 hurricane were estimated at 170mph. Waterfalls sometimes go uphill, sea spray crosses the peninsula from west to east.

The buyout has been made possible by funding from the Scottish Land Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Big Lottery, and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

The Comhairle’s Chair of Sustainable Development, Councillor Alasdair Macleod congratulated the achievement of the trust.

She said: “Ownership of land that has been denied to the general public for so long as a prohibited area in Uig, Isle of Lewis will ensure that the community improves their environmental, social and economic well-being and the Comhairle congratulate their successful effort to acquire their land.”