Community Land Scotland Conference, 21/22 May 15

I attended the above on behalf of South Cowal Community Development Company (SCCDC) to hear how the land reform movement was progressing through community ownership. SCCDC failed  in their bid to buy the Castle Toward estate due to the owner, Argyll & Bute Council, being unwilling to budge on the price they were demanding.

The story of Castle Toward is told earlier in this blog here. This is well worth the read if you’ve not already read it because, in the words of Dr Christopher Mason, the ownership and management of this property since the council inherited it for nothing has seen “unwavering chicanery” on the part of the council for the last 20 years.

During the long process when SCCDC tried to buy the estate, some of the views I heard from fellow councillors on community ownership were from another age altogether. A number were clearly of the view that community ownership was a bad thing and some cited the example of Gigha to demonstrate how bad community ownership could be.

Margaret McSporran, who chairs the community company that now owns the island,  spoke at the conference and what they have achieved is truly remarkable. The housing stock has been transformed and she paid tribute to a number of organisations including the council, which was good to hear. The population has almost doubled and small businesses are thriving. They started life with a very large debt related to the purchase price for the island and they have had to re-structure the debt recently but what business has not had to do that?

The conference confirmed to me that community ownership is the way forward and we should be encouraging this as a council. After all, the council is only the guardian of the property; it’s us, the people of Argyll & Bute, who own it ultimately. Here are some highlights from the conference from what was said on Twitter during the event. The first tweet refers to Aileen McLeod MSP, the minister responsible for the legislation going through the Scottish Parliament at the moment, some of which was specifically amended to ensure another buy out would not end the way the Castle Toward one did.

I asked Aileen if she will issue guidance to councils who might not wish to work with the new legislation. #CLS15 https://t.co/ddKLLkXZSf

— Michael Breslin 🇮🇹 🇪🇺 ☮ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@DunoonSNP) May 22, 2015

Good suggestion at #CLS15 : UHI and colleges should develop suite of courses in skills needed for community ownership.

— Michael Breslin 🇮🇹 🇪🇺 ☮ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@DunoonSNP) May 22, 2015

#CLS15 Rob Gibson MSP : we need to know the beneficial owners of private trusts. But will the Tories continue to give them anonymity?

— Michael Breslin 🇮🇹 🇪🇺 ☮ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@DunoonSNP) May 22, 2015

"Land reform cannot be a consensual process since it is about the redistribution of power" says @JimHunter22 #CLS15

— Andy Wightman (@andywightman) May 21, 2015

Scotland's land should be 'in the public interest and contribute to the collective benefit of the people of Scotland' @JimHunter22 #CLS15

— Community Land Scotland (@CommunityLandSc) May 21, 2015

.@AileenMcLeodMSP tells #CLS15 that #landreform is part of tackling causes & consequences of inequality pic.twitter.com/XoweeegbKG

— Net Zero Scotland (@ScotGovNetZero) May 22, 2015

.@AileenMcLeodMSP: short life working group set up develop strategy to achieve 1m acre public land target #CLS15 pic.twitter.com/UHPHsjxyO7

— Net Zero Scotland (@ScotGovNetZero) May 22, 2015

500 owning half of private Scottish land equals 7 folk owning all of Inverness. Unhealthy land monopoly. Huw Francis #CLS15

— Lesley Riddoch (@LesleyRiddoch) May 22, 2015

I'd remind folk who think community land is only rural that oldest (<800 yrs) form of commons is common good in Scotland's towns. #CLS15

— Andy Wightman (@andywightman) May 22, 2015

.@SCFHq repeats its policy position that crofting should be available across Scotland, at @CommunityLandSc conference today #CLS15

— Woodland Crofts (@WoodlandCrofts) May 22, 2015

Rob Gibson says many areas of clearance correspond with areas many now wish to designate as " wild land". #CLS15

— Lesley Riddoch (@LesleyRiddoch) May 22, 2015