Isle of Gigha – community-ownership in action When the island of Gigha came on the market in August 2001, the community saw an opportunity to strengthen the resilience of their community and decided to seize the opportunity to buy it. The Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust was formed and with help of the Scottish Land Fund and H.I.E the community bought Gigha. The condition of the grant was that the Trust would pay back £1 million by March 2004. Quite a task for the 100 or so Islanders but one to which they rose. As a result, March 15th 2004, the day of purchase, is now known as the island’s independence day. Since the buy-out the island has been buzzing and the community spirit is second to none. The Development Manager, backed by the community has introduced many initiatives, much needed to regenerate the island. To name just a few examples, there has been; a housing refurbishment programme, a community-owned windfarm, new businesses and the restructuring of farmland all have helped the island go from strength to strength.

The chairman of the Heritage Trust, Willie McSporran said: “The trust turned 300 years of population decline on its head by encouraging new developments and the new growth of the local economy”. The Gigha community-owned windfarm The UK’s first ever community-owned and grid connected windfarm. It was set-up with a very robust financial model, a great blueprint that could be used in communities throughout Scotland and the UK. In its first full year of operation it announced a £100,000 net profit. The profits from the sale of electricity to the national grid has enabled the community to embark on a massive £4 million housing refurbishment programme. The housing stock had fallen into disrepair before the community buy-out. The housing improvements have helped the islanders to save energy with homes that are now more energy efficient and cheaper to heat. This in turn has reduced their carbon emission substantially. As well as funding many island projects the profits are used to pay off debts, making the project self-sustaining within eight years of its start date.

Lorne MacLeod, chairman of Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company (HICEC) stated, “The Gigha wind turbines have proved that communities can generate substantial income from renewable energy. The Gigha project model will soon be replicated by other communities throughout the Highlands and Islands, providing a valuable income source to be re-invested in other locally based community projects.” Community action to tackle climate changebusiness for sale 37066 William McSporran, chairman of the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust:business for sale wanaka “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.”business for sale clwyd

When it comes to taking action to tackle climate change we need to re-engage with the social, economic and environment infrastructure of where we live. This will help us to recognise the barriers to reducing our carbon emission. Taking community action at all levels to break through these barriers will help to guide us towards the solutions. Active, engaged and empowered communities like Gigha highlight the benefits that local expert knowledge and ownership of decisions can have for the environment and lives of the people who live there.business for sale muswellbrook The work on this page is licensed under abusiness for sale muswellbrook nsw While we've made every effort to ensure that the links to other websites contain reliable information, we cannot take responsibility for the content of any external site.business for sale muskoka ontario

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