Pioneering island trust can still thrive despite debts says chair of Community Land Scotland
A leading conservation group has insisted the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust (IGHT), isn’t in crisis, despite reporting debts of nearly £3 million.
As reported in TFN, the pioneering community-run island is facing significant financial problems, with reported debts of £2.7m.
However islanders voted by 66% to 33% to back chair Margaret McSporran to drive forward proposed changes to its business plan to manage the debt.
The financial problems have stemmed from the £1m that had to be repaid within two years as part of the condition of sale, forcing islanders to sell a property that would otherwise have made them money.
At a meeting this week, David Cameron, chair of Community Land Scotland, said the debt was part of the commercial climate facing the trust and a new revised business plan would take it forward.
People need to get used to the idea that community owners are multi-functional businesses of scale
"Through the Gigha experience of recent weeks we have seen the strength of community ownership, with a community fully engaged and in democratic control of their future.
"People need to get used to the idea that community owners are multi-functional businesses of scale, and to develop their place requires investment, some of which will be financed by commercial borrowing, just as households borrow to invest in their homes and future.”
He said there has been those who want to paint Gigha as an island in crises, but “this is a place determined to carve out a better future than it has a past.”
“This is an island community which has invested in building for that future and, while that allows some to a picture to be painted of an island in debt, for others it is an island investing for the long term, an island with hope and confidence,” he said.
The Isle of Gigha, between the Kintyre peninsula and Islay in Argyll and Bute, was transferred to community ownership for £4m in 2002.
Since then, the trust, which owns the 3,500-acre island, has raised the population to about 170 since the buyout, when it was 98.
