Tiree Community Land Ownership...Tiree Community Land Ownership Options Appraisal Contents 1.0 Executive summary 2.0 Background 3.0 Development needs identified by the Community of

Tiree Community Land OwnershipOptions Appraisal

Roots Design WorkshopTiree Community Land Ownership Steering GroupTiree Community Development TrustJuly 2015

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Tiree Community Land Ownership Options Appraisal Contents 1.0 Executive summary

2.0 Background 3.0 Development needs identified by the Community of Tiree 4.0 Land ownership on Tiree 5.0 Validation of Project Outcomes 6.0 How a community can obtain land for development projects 6.1 Temporary lease/Meanwhile use 6.2 Long-term lease 6.3 Joint Venture 6.4 Donation 6.5 Direct purchase 6.6 ‘Right to buy’ Application 6.7 Funding a community land purchase 7.0 Land options a Crofting Community Body could pursue using ‘right to buy’

legislation 7.1 OPTION 1A: Eligible Croft Land 7.2 OPTION 1B: Eligible Croft Land with Eligible Additional Land 7.3 OPTION 1C: Eligible Croft Land, Eligible Additional Land and the inclusion of

Sporting Rights, Mineral Rights and Interposed Leases 8.0 Land options a Community Body could pursue 8.1 OPTION 2A: Tiree Airport and the Reef 8.2 OPTION 2B: Gott Pier 8.3 OPTION 2C: The Hynish Centre 8.4 OPTION 2D: ‘The Camp’ and other private plots along Kenovay Road 8.5 OPTION 2E: ‘The Glebe’ farmland in Scarinish 8.6 OPTION 2F: Various plots of Argyll & Bute Council or NHS Highland land 8.7 OPTION 2G: Unsold house plots within/adjacent to Pier View Estate 8.8 OPTION 2H: Shop in Crossapol 9.0 Conclusion and recommendations 10.0 Appendix A Maps of proposed land purchase options B List of development projects suggested by the community C Validation of project outcomes D Flow diagrams of ‘right to buy process’ E SWOT analysis sheets F Risk register for Options 1A, B, & C1 G Sample list of community land buyouts in Scotland H Argyll and Bute Council Local Development Plans

1 This risk register is based on work begun some time ago by the CLO Steering Group. Resources did not permit an equivalent risk register for Options 2A to 2H inclusive. The risks attached to those options are to some extent reflected in the SWOT analysis within Appendix E.

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1.0 Executive summary This Options Appraisal is an evaluation of different land options on the Isle of Tiree that may be viable for purchase by a community body. The outcome of this evaluation is a list of land options that are recommended for detailed examination through a feasibility study. The land options discussed within this report have been identified as part of independent research and consultation with members of the Tiree community. Each land option has been measured against its potential to address the aspirations of the community2 and replicate successful development projects from further afield that have enhanced the resilience of rural areas. To examine the identified land options in detail the social, economic, political, environmental and legal implications have been considered. These findings have been presented in a Risk Register and a S.W.O.T. analysis that serves to summarise the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats attributed to an acquisition. The Risk Register and SWOT analysis are within the attached Appendix. A written summary of these findings is contained within each section of this report. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 has afforded communities a ‘right to buy’ land that can be put to better use. This enabling legislation has encouraged many rural communities across Scotland to seek greater control over the place where they live and take the lead in its development. This Options Appraisal considers how land reform legislation could be utilised on Tiree; illustrating what land could be acquired using Parts 2 and 3 of the Act.3 Under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 a Crofting Community Body (CCB) can choose to exercise a right to buy eligible croft land at a time of their choosing, whether there is a willing seller or not. However, it is recommended that this right be exercised only when efforts to acquire land by agreement with the landowner have failed. Under Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 communities can register an interest in a plot of land they wish to acquire as part of a development plan. The community will be granted a pre-emptive right to buy the land from the seller when that land comes up for sale. Crucially in this situation, there must be a willing seller. Part 2 ‘right to buy’ legislation may be applied to land held by public sector bodies, such as the council, or private sector landlords. A development project progressed in collaboration with a landowner is preferable to using legislation to acquire land when the landowner is not a willing seller. The CLO Steering Group wish to approach any future discussions with Tiree’s landowners in a spirit of cooperation and partnership in the shared interest of improving the island’s future.

2 Community aspirations referred to were expressed in the Tiree Community Growth Plan and recorded in consultation sessions facilitated by Tiree Community Development Trust and Argyll & Bute Council. 3 Diagrams detailing the various stages of the Part 2 & Part 3 ‘right to buy’ processes can be found in Appendix D.

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This investigation has uncovered a long list of possible land options that could be pursued by the community. A further shortlist has been compiled of land options that show most potential to improve the island’s resilience and these are as follows: OPTION 1C: Eligible Croft Land, Eligible Additional Land and the inclusion of

Sporting Rights, Mineral Rights and Interposed Leases OPTION 2A: Tiree Airport and the Reef OPTION 2C: The Hynish Centre OPTION 2D: ‘The Camp’ and other privately owned plots along the Kenovay Road OPTION 2E: ‘The Glebe’ farmland in Scarinish OPTION 2G: Unsold house plots within/adjacent to Pier View Estate Of these shortlisted options, Option 1C would be pursued through a Part 3 ‘right to buy’ application. Option 1C is the largest and most complex area of land on this shortlist and will require substantial time and effort to make the case for this acquisition. It is therefore highly likely that Options 2A, C, D, E and G will bring tangible benefits to the community in the shorter term if the current owners are willing sellers. It is quite probable that public sector landowners such as HIAL and Argyll and Bute Council have more incentive to become willing sellers given precedents of sales elsewhere in rural Scotland and the current Government’s leaning towards the release of underused assets for community use. If necessary, Options 2A, C, D, E and G could all be taken forward under a Part 2 ‘right to buy’ application from a Community Body, such as Tiree Community Development Trust, who are already established. Community land acquisitions can only progress with the backing of Tiree’s crofters and the wider community after further consultation. Support from the crofting community is particularly critical to the success of a Part 3 application for croft land as outlined in Option 1C. The CLO Steering Group advise that the community give immediate consideration to lodging an expression of interest under Part 2 ‘right to buy’ for all eligible land that will be subject to the following feasibility study. This may include eligible portions of The Argyll Estate, the majority landowner . If the applications were to be successful this would in essence protect the community’s option to buy should the feasibility study draw positive conclusions and the landowner decided to sell before the community has made an offer. The CLO Steering Group recommends that Options 1C, 2A, C, D, E and G are worthy of further exploration through a feasibility study and consultation with the community. The feasibility study will be used to determine the most viable development projects for these areas of land and establish who will be best placed to take these projects forward, with a view to engaging these individuals and groups in the on-going project planning.

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2.0 Background In 2014 the Land Reform Review Group published a report calling for Scotland’s land to be used in the public interest and for the common good.4 Tasked by the Scottish Government, this independent group made a number of radical recommendations calling for a more democratic, transparent and accessible system of land ownership in Scotland. This was acknowledged by a subsequent commitment from the Scottish Government to introduce a Land Reform Bill into parliament in 2015. In addition, the Community Empowerment Bill was proposed promising more power to Scotland’s communities through increased opportunities to own land and buildings and have a stronger voice in local decision-making. It is within this climate of reform and empowerment the community of Tiree voted to examine what increased community ownership of land could mean for their island’s future.5 Tiree’s CLO Steering Group was formed to carry out this examination in September 2013. It has subsequently taken this investigation forward and, through the Tiree Community Development Trust, commissioned this independent Options Appraisal with funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It is the belief of the CLO Steering Group that increased community ownership of land on Tiree will help to encourage greater integration and collaboration between the crofting community and the wider community on the island. A more integrated community with shared assets and shared involvement in civic life will help to create a more sustainable and resilient island community. 2.1 The Isle of Tiree Tiree is a Hebridean island of approximately 30.2 square miles and 650 residents, located 60 miles west of Oban, the nearest port. In the 10 years between the 2001 and 2011 census the population of Tiree has declined by 15%. This is a serious issue for the island and to counteract this trend there is a need to create well paid jobs, high quality educational facilities, and suitable housing to attract migrants to the island and retain current residents. The agricultural sector is a major industry for the island and the greatest contributor to Tiree’s economy. Tiree’s agricultural sector was estimated to account for approximately 31% of the island’s GVA in 20036. Most of Tiree’s land is used to support agricultural activity; rearing high quality beef and lamb livestock for export to the mainland. There are 287 crofts on the island that provide part-time employment for many residents. Croft land accounts for an estimated 70% of the island’s landmass.

4 Dr Alison Elliot, chair of the Land Reform Review Group, stated that “Land is a finite resource to be used in the public interest and for the common good” in the Land Reform Review report. Currently 432 landowners own half of the privately-owned rural land in Scotland. 5 During a public consultation day in June 2013, 76% of the membership of Tiree Community Development Trust voted in favour of further exploring the pros and cons of Community Land Ownership on Tiree. 6 It was estimated that Tiree’s agricultural sector contributed £1,650,000 to the island’s total GVA of £5,274,619 in 2003. Source: ‘Tiree Socio-Economic Assessment’ by SAC produced in February 2004

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Tiree has unique machair grassland habitat that sustains native insects such as the great yellow bumblebee and attracts rare migratory birds such as corncrakes and snipe. The biodiversity of the machair, which accounts for approximately 24% of the island7, is of international importance. Areas of machair within the Reef are recognised as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), the highest level of European designation. This reflects the fragility of the dune and machair system and its need to be protected from man-made erosion and misuse. Traditional crofting practices help to sustain the biodiversity of the island, which would be adversely affected by neglect. For this reason the continuance of traditional crofting is important to the conservation of the Tiree landscape. The public sector provides the greatest level of employment on the island through Argyll and Bute Council and the NHS. Residents commonly work several jobs on a part time basis. On average Tiree’s population work a longer week than the rest of Scotland8 and are far more likely to be self employed.9 The community is active and mobilised with a Tiree Community Development Trust, Tiree Community Council, Tiree Rural Development Limited, and around 47 voluntary community groups in operation. To date the Tiree community has established 6 community-owned and managed buildings and one wind turbine. Tiree’s community owned buildings are:

• ‘An Iodhlann’, the historic centre; • ‘An Talla’ a community hall, • The Rural Centre and Mart where cattle are auctioned, • The Island Centre with business units for rent (with 5 acres of surrounding land) • ‘The Noust’ Community Boathouse • The Clubhouse, Vaul Golf Club

‘Tilley’, the community owned wind-turbine, produces approximately £500K of turnover on an annual basis, which is partly reinvested into community projects through the Tiree Community Windfall Fund. The community of Tiree has a convincing track record for success in developing community-owned assets for the common good.

7 Source: Joint Nature Conservation Committee website, Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/protectedsites/sacselection/sac.asp?EUcode=UK0014744 8 The 2011 census states that 22% of Tiree’s population works more than 49 hours per week, compared with 12% in the rest of Scotland. 9 The 2011 census states that 31% of Tiree’s population were registered as self employed, compared with 11% in the rest of Scotland.

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3.0 Development needs identified by the Community of Tiree A Tiree Community Growth Plan was established in 2011 and the Tiree Community Development Trust updates this plan periodically to reflect feedback gathered during consultation sessions with the community. The Growth Plan is owned by the community and contains aspirations and actions that members of the community have identified as being significant to securing the island’s future prosperity. Various community groups, including Tiree Community Development Trust, take responsibility for delivering these actions. This Options Appraisal has referred to the Community Growth Plan and the results of subsequent community consultation sessions10 to judge which pieces of land would be best aligned with community development interests. Each land option has been rated by its potential to deliver the following benefits stated within the Growth Plan (in no particular order):

• Generate regular income for the community which can be reinvested in community services/assets

• Improve aging infrastructure, services, and underdeveloped communications • Contribute to the development and diversification of township settlements • Produce renewable energy • Support local management of agricultural land and protected areas • Provide land-based training for new crofters and farmers • Improve facilities for fisherman • Create new jobs and more professional posts • Establish affordable self-build house plots to expand resident population • Provide affordable housing • Enhance facilities for tourists • Accommodate a new community building or facility

There have been several other suggestions from the community for new community run facilities ranging from an abattoir to slaughter local animals and sell ‘Tiree meat’, to rentable workshop spaces, a chapel of rest, and a marina. These potential developments will be listed against appropriate sites throughout this analysis. A full list of development projects suggested by the community can be seen in Appendix B. It is with these ambitions in mind that we consider what increased land ownership could offer the community of Tiree.

10 Additional community consultation feedback has been gathered at Tiree Community Development Trust open days and an Argyll & Bute Council consultation event in February 2014 for the new Local Plan.

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4.0 Land ownership on Tiree At the time of this research, there is no complete map of landownership on Tiree. Any portions of land and their respective owners that are referred to within this document are derived from local knowledge and registered planning applications. The Land Register is a map-based record of land ownership in Scotland; it details who owns what land and the extents of that property. According to the Registers of Scotland, only 15% of Tiree’s land mass is documented in Scotland’s Land Register as of October 2014. Ownership of the remaining 85% of the island is document in the General Register of Sasines, which is slowly being superseded by the Land Register. The Sasine Register is a chronological list of land deeds that provide written descriptions of properties rather than drawn maps. If the community were to produce an accurate map of land ownership on Tiree as part of the Community Land Ownership project this would require considerable effort and expense. To buy a digital map of 15% of the island documented on the land register would cost at least £180011. In addition to this, the researcher would need to pay to search for each additional plot on the Sasine Register and translate this information onto a map through consultation with the owner and neighbours. This is a significant undertaking. The Registers of Scotland have been tasked with adding all public land to the Land Register by 2019, and all of Scotland by 2024. The upshot of this is that it will be sometime before a demonstrable map of who owns what on Tiree will be available for purchase or public use. However, there may be an opportunity to accelerate this process if the community can work in partnership with the RoS to help gather this information and incentivise landowners to have their property registered. This is certainly the case with croft land, which is currently going through a similar mapping process as the Crofting Commission adds it to a new Crofting Register. The Crofting Commission has made it compulsory for crofters to register their crofts when key trigger activities take place such as an assignation of a tenancy. The Crofting Commission has encouraged townships of crofters to register their crofts together, making it easier for boundaries to be verified by all concerned. This process of registering croft land as a community could be facilitated by the Tiree Community Development Trust or through the CLO project to encourage the mapping of croft land on Tiree to happen earlier and help crofters to get a reduced rate for their assistance. As part of this Options Appraisal project, Roots Design Workshop have endeavoured to source digital maps of land ownership on Tiree for a new community-held map. Having discovered that very little of this information is available, we have contacted The Argyll Estate and Argyll & Bute Council to access hard copies of their records and conducted several interviews with knowledgeable islanders and members of the CLO Steering Group for information. Both The Argyll Estate and Argyll & Bute Council have explained that they do not have a single map showing the extent of their property on the island and it would require too much of their own time and resources to produce this information for the community. Roots Design Workshop did however acquire a detailed digital OS map with assistance from the Tiree Community Council for use on the TCDT’s ArcGIS software. Roots Design Workshop has compiled illustrated maps in Appendix A to help inform the upcoming feasibility phase of this project.

11 The figure of £1766.72 was quoted to Tiree Community Development Trust by the Registers of Scotland in October 2014

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5.0 Validation of option appraisal outcomes It is proposed that a new ‘Tiree Estate’ owned by a Community Body (CB) or Crofting Community Body (CCB) would be viewed as successful if it can achieve the following outcomes:

1. Unlock more of the island’s potential for sustainable economic growth by taking a lead on the physical development of land assets to retain more wealth on the island.

2. Empower the community with greater capacity for control and resilience to shape future developments and land use. Residents will have greater say in maintaining the distinctive character of the island to sustain a thriving and healthy community.

3. Harness more of the island’s collective knowledge and skills to better manage the sustainable use of land and the natural environment.

These outcomes have been considered when evaluating the possible benefits of increased community land ownership on Tiree Furthermore, the above outcomes should also be:

• Consistent with the Tiree Community Growth Plan • Straight forward to explain to the Tiree Community and to potential funding

bodies • Composed of project outputs that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant

and time-bound (SMART) • A sound basis for evaluating the difference between different land options

These options appraisal outcomes were agreed with Tiree Community Development Trust and the CLO Steering Group. Full details of the validation process for project outcomes can be seen in Appendix C.

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6.0 How a community can obtain land for development projects One of the main motivating factors for communities buying land is the perceived benefit in gaining access to that land for a community development project. Buying a plot of land out-right is one way by which a community can gain access to land. Although the focus of this report is on acquiring land for the community, it may be appropriate in some circumstances to avoid the upfront cost of buying the land outright, especially if the cost of land is prohibitive to the project going ahead. It is important that the option to buy is weighed up against other ways to procure land. Gaining use of land Acquiring ownership of land

• Temporary lease/Meanwhile use • Donation • Long-term lease • Direct purchase • Joint Venture • Right to buy application

6.1 Temporary lease/Meanwhile use There is a rising trend of community groups across the UK reclaiming vacant plots of derelict land and under-used green spaces within their settlements for community use. This has often been achieved through temporary leases that have enabled groups to establish community garden projects, as in the Woodlands area of Glasgow 12, or temporary events spaces13. Although this is more common activity in inner-city areas, often these temporary uses are carried out on under-used land owned by the local authority, of which there are several plots on Tiree. Argyll and Bute Council have this year committed to releasing plots of land in Oban for use by the local community as part of the ‘Stalled Spaces Scotland’ initiative14, which also offers Scottish Government funding towards the development. The reach of this initiative does not extend to Tiree, however, this would indicate that Argyll and Bute Council may be open to hearing proposals for community use of vacant land they hold on Tiree.

12 Woodlands Community Garden http://www.woodlandscommunitygarden.org.uk 13 Folly for a Flyover, Assemble http://assemblestudio.co.uk/?page_id=5 14 Information on the Stalled Spaces initiative within Argyll & Bute

http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/stalled-spaces-scotland

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6.2 Long-term lease A long-term lease agreement could be established between a landowner and a Community Body for a portion of land. This would release land for community use without having to raise additional up-front capital to buy the land outright. The site of Tiree’s community wind turbine is an example of a long-term lease agreement established between a community company and a landowner. In this scenario an area of common grazing (croft land) owned by The Argyll Estate has been leased to Tiree Renewable Energy Company Ltd (TREL). In return for use of the site, a proportion of profits from the wind turbine is paid back to The Argyll Estate and a share of this income is then apportioned among crofters who share in that common grazing in accordance with the number of grazing shares each crofter holds. A long-term lease agreement may come with some restrictions as to what developments the landowner is willing to permit, and how income generated on the land will be distributed between the Community Body and the landowner (and crofters in the above example). Although the community would not have indefinite security over the land, this model could free up capital to be spent on the actual development work. This success of this model would depend upon co-operation with a landowner who is willing to engage with the community to help improve land use. 6.3 Joint Venture An alternative option could be for the Community Body to enter into a joint venture with a landowner. A joint venture is a business agreement in which both parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. Both parties have control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets resulting from the venture. For instance, a landowner and Community Body may agree to collaborate on a project to build a new cluster of rentable office units. The landowner may contribute land and money to the project, which is matched by funding, and sweat equity (volunteer time) provided by a Community Body. In return the Community Body and landowner would share income from leasing the offices, running costs and responsibility for this new community asset. 6.4 Donation A generous landowner may choose to donate some of their estate to a Community Body to support a strong community cause. There is precedent for this on Tiree when The Argyll Estate sold the site for The Noust Community Boathouse to Tiree Maritime Trust for a nominal sum. Looking further afield, the Isle Martin was gifted to the Isle Martin Trust by the RSPB, and Scottish Natural Heritage gifted Kinloch Village on the Isle of Rum to the Isle of Rum Community Trust. The likelihood of this happening is of course dependent upon the goodwill of the landowner. This is likely to be a more feasible approach for small pockets of land that are of little value and are troublesome for the landowner to make use of. However, as the political climate continues to lean towards increased community empowerment there is increasing pressure on local authorities and public sector bodies to release land for community use.

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6.5 Direct purchase A more common approach to acquiring land for the community is to negotiate a sale directly with a landowner, or through an agent. This assumes that the landowner is willing to sell to the community, and negotiations can be carried out amicably. An example of this would be Tiree Community Development Trust’s negotiations to acquire the I. & F. MacLeod shop in Crossapol for community use. It is common that a Community Body, such as TCDT, would use external funding to raise capital for a purchase. In this example the TCDT have secured funding from the Scottish Land Fund (SLF). In order to secure external funding such as an SLF grant for a land purchase, the Community Body needs to prove that their proposal was supported by a robust development plan, had the backing of the community they represent, and did not create competition for other local businesses. This process would demand strong community engagement in planning for the acquisition and the development phase thereafter. 6.6 ‘Right to buy’ applications In recent years community groups (of less than 10,000 residents) have been afforded increased legislative support in acquiring land for community benefit. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 outlines a specific ‘right to buy’ for Community Bodies (CB) and Crofting Community Bodies (CCB). To exercise a ‘right to buy’ a Community Body or Crofting Community Body must make a clear case for how a piece of land could be put to better use, have greater protection, or realise more of its development potential under community ownership and management. Under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 a Crofting Community Body (CCB) can choose to exercise a right to buy eligible croft land at a time of their choosing, whether there is a willing seller or not. The CCB must invite all community members to participate in a ballot and all crofters to participate in a separate second ballot to determine whether the proposal has sufficient community support to be carried through. To achieve approval for progressing with a Part 3 application the CCB must consult with the whole community and both ballots must be in favour. However, it is recommended that this right be exercised only when efforts to acquire land by agreement with the landowner have failed. Under Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 communities can register an interest in a piece of land they wish to acquire as part of a development plan. If successful the community will be granted a pre-emptive right to buy the land from the seller when that land comes up for sale. Crucially in this situation, there must be a willing seller. The sale price will be determined through an independent valuation. The community must raise sufficient funds for the purchase within 6 months of the agreed sale. Part 2 ‘right to buy’ legislation may be applied to land held by public sector bodies, such as the council, or private sector landlords. ‘Right to buy’ legislation has helped to establish a best practice process for consulting with community members on land ownership. If a community group or Crofting Community Body wishes to pursue a ‘right to buy’ application they must prove that the proposal has the backing of community members.

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Ultimately, any ‘right to buy’ application dictates that the applicant group must invite all community members to participate in a ballot to determine whether the proposal has sufficient community support to be carried through. To achieve a successful ballot outcome the applicant group must consult with community members and tailor the proposal to address the concerns and interests of the wider group. Through this process a robust case is made for acquiring land in the community interest. For this reason some communities, such as the North Harris Trust, have followed the requirements of a ‘right to buy’ process without necessarily making a formal application under the legislation.15 Through the community group following this process and establishing a robust case for owning more land, a landowner can become a willing seller as it is more foreseeable that the community’s proposal will gain legislative backing. Likewise, establishing a clear case for community ownership with proven community support can convince funders of the benefits of contributing towards the acquisition. Diagrams detailing the various stages of the Part 2 & Part 3 ‘right to buy’ processes can be found in Appendix D. 6.7 Funding a Community Land Purchase The Scottish Land Fund (SLF) was established by The Scottish Government to help rural communities raise the capital they need to acquire land or buildings that will improve the community’s resilience and sustainability. The Scottish Land Fund is delivered in partnership by the Big Lottery and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and has a budget of £9M to be spent between 2012-2016. SLF grants range from £10,000 to £750,000 and can be used to cover up to 95% of the capital cost of acquiring land or land assets, and the initial running costs for the project after the land has been acquired.16 To date HIE & SLF have approved funding for 7 community estates to buy land, and a further 5 community estates are known to be considering the acquisition of land. 17 A guide to appropriate sources of funding can be accessed via the Scottish Government’s website. This report will continue by investigating land options that could be purchased by the community of Tiree.

15 Information supplied by Murdo MacKay, Chair, North Harris Trust 16 Next Scottish Land Fund application deadline is 9th November 2015 17 Source: ’Supporting Crofting Communities: How Highlands and Islands Enterprise contributes in partnership with others’ HIE October 2014

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7.0 Land options a Crofting Community Body could pursue using ‘right to buy’ legislation

Overview of Croft Land on Tiree Agricultural land on Tiree consists of both farmland and what is termed as ‘croft land’. A ‘croft’ is a small agricultural land holding that is subject to and protected by Crofting Acts, a traditional form of land tenure in rural Scotland. Typically a croft refers to a field (or fields) and excludes croft houses, which are commonly held by the crofter him/herself. The Crofting Acts protect the succession rights of crofters to pass down their croft to their next of kin whilst helping to ensure the land is continually in crofting use whether as a working croft, rearing livestock and growing crops, or as subsidised unproductive land which supports conservation efforts. There are currently 287 registered crofts on Tiree18 and of this there are approximately 80 crofting businesses, highlighting that many crofting businesses work more than one croft. Tiree’s population can be defined as a ‘crofting community’19 under the Land Reform Act as inhabitants live in a collection of crofting townships.

Figure 1: Sectors worked in prior to / in addition to crofting (base: 526 nationally) Source: Exodus Market Research, Page 15 “Scottish Government Report To Parliament: Economic Condition Of Crofting 2011 – 2014” Published 19th December 2014

18 Source: The Crofting Commission 2014 19 “Under the Land Reform Act a crofting community is based on the township or crofts that share a common grazing. It can comprise a single township or a group of two or more townships. Thus, some or all of the townships within a crofting estate can come together to form a single crofting community. Both crofters and other residents are regarded as part of the crofting community provided that they meet one of the following criteria: i. They are tenants of crofts within the township and live within the township. ii. They are tenants of crofts within the township but live within 16 kilometres of the township. iii. They reside on land that is contiguous with the croft land (or common grazing) that forms the township.” Source: “Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, The Crofting Community Right to Buy – your questions answered” Highlands and Island Enterprise

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Crofting has shaped the way of life on Tiree and helped to establish a population with a diverse skill set and range of employment backgrounds (fig.1). In a survey of 2000 crofters across Scotland, it was found that crofting households spent an average of 11.7 hours per week on crofting related activities over a 12 month period and received an average revenue of £4900 for this work20. This has contributed to a demand for sources of supplementary income and has helped to retain a workforce of part-time staff who contribute to many aspects of island life, from airport security to NHS care staff. Crofting a single croft is not a lucrative occupation and perceived more as a way of life. Most crofting businesses consist of more than one croft to generate a more viable income. The cost of land, property and machinery can be unaffordable to many crofters who are reliant on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support payments. From January 2015 CAP payments will become more closely aligned to the productivity of a croft, particularly in terms of livestock production. This development may mark a significant change for Tiree crofters, some of whom are in their senior years and may wish to pass on their croft to their next of kin or allow it to be officially sub-let to another. The lack of opportunities for new entrants to crofting and the loss of local skills is a problem that will affect the future of crofting culture on the island. This issue has been acknowledged within the Tiree Community Growth Plan. It should be noted that to date it has not been necessary for a crofting community to formerly exercise their right to buy land under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.21 If the landowner is willing to sell croft land to the community it is possible for a Community Body or a Crofting Community Body to purchase croft land directly from a landowner without applying for their ‘right to buy’. The process of building a case for a ‘right to buy’ application can encourage landowners to consider selling their land before an application is made. Therefore, although it is possible for a community to negotiate the sale of croft land directly with a landowner, the CB/CCB is likely to be better prepared and gain a stronger negotiating position if they do follow the process of preparing a ‘right to buy’ application. The fundamental requirements for a Part 3 ‘right to buy’ application stipulate that the Crofting Community Body would have garnered strong support for the buy-out from the community and produced a credible plan for how the land would be put to better use by the community. A Part 3 ‘right to buy’ application can only happen if the process is led by and has the support of the crofting community. Therefore there must be significant advantages for crofters in Community Land Ownership if a crofting community buy-out is to be a viable option. Diagrams detailing the various stages of the Part 3 ‘right to buy’ process can be found in Appendix D.

20 Source: Survey of a sample group of 2000 crofters documented within “Scottish Government Report To Parliament: Economic Condition Of Crofting 2011 – 2014” Published 19th December 2014 21 Only two crofting communities have applied to the Scottish Government to exercise their right to buy. The Galston Trust on the Isle of Lewis submitted an application, which drew the landowner to the negotiating table and concluded in a sale without using the Act. Similarly The Pairc Trust, also on Lewis, had their second application accepted, but then started amicable negotiations with the landlord instead. Source: Item 4.4 “Overview of Evidence on Land Reform in Scotland”, Scottish Government Publication 2012 http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2012/07/3328/5

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Overview of Part 3 land options on Tiree The base case for acquiring croft land for community land ownership under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 is predicated on establishing a new ‘Crofting Community Body’ led by local crofters that would purchase the ‘landlord’s interest’ in tenanted croft land on Tiree from The Argyll Estate. This would establish a new Crofting Community Estate on Tiree as landlord of the acquired tenanted croft land. Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 is concerned with ‘eligible croft land’ and ‘eligible additional land’ that can be deemed as ‘contiguous’ to croft land held by the same landowner. For the purposes of this section of the report we will only be considering agricultural land options that fall into these two categories. In the following text we will examine three purchase options starting with base option of acquiring eligible croft land. The following options will examine what additional advantages there may be in including other associated assets. Owner occupied crofts are excluded from this appraisal. All croft land options as referred to above are currently under ownership of The Argyll Estate.

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7.1 OPTION 1A: Eligible Croft Land 7.1.1 What is ‘Eligible Croft Land’? Eligible croft land is defined as all land that is subject to crofting tenure and regulation, including arable machair, and any land in which a tenant of a croft has a right to pasture or grazing (such as areas of common grazing). The following types of land tenure are not considered as ‘eligible croft land’ and will not be pursued as part of a CLO application on Tiree:

• owner occupied crofts • crofts and croft house sites which have been de-crofted • areas of land that have been resumed from crofting tenure • owned crofts with tenanted shares

There are currently 287 crofts on Tiree. Of these crofts 35 (12%) are owner-occupied, where the crofter has acquired the title to his/her croft; and 47 (16%) are owned with shares tenanted to other crofters. The remaining 204 crofts (71% of all Tiree crofts) are either tenanted from the Argyll Estate (197) or vacant (7).22 These 204 crofts, plus areas of common grazing, and tenanted apportionments will herein be referred to as Tiree’s ‘eligible croft land’, which the Tiree crofting community has a right to buy, as outlined above. 7.1.2 Summary of benefits and risks This option carries the greatest legislative support if the Crofting Community Body can make a convincing case for becoming the new landowner. If the Crofting Community Body chooses to exercise their right to buy eligible croft land, but omit associated rights, leases and eligible additional land from the application, this removes any additional ownership options that need to be negotiated. This type of application would be quick to action as it does not require the landlord’s consent and leaves little that can be contested. The greatest foreseeable advantage to the crofting community in acquiring eligible croft land is gaining a say in how that land is managed, leased and sold. This, in turn, could lead to income from crofting leases remaining on the island, and greater parity and transparency over decision-making and charges to crofters. Owning croft land would also enable the community to apply to the Scottish Land Court to have specific portions of croft land resumed from (i.e. taken out of) crofting tenure. Resuming land would allow developments to take place that can help to sustain the crofting community on Tiree. Examples of viable developments may be the building of new homes for the community or establishing renewable energy infrastructure that benefits local crofters. Any application to resume land would be measured against whether the resumption would be for a ‘reasonable purpose’ as outlined under Section 20(3) of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 [Fig 2].

22 Figures produced by the Crofting Commission 2014

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20(3) …“reasonable purpose” shall include-

(a) the using, letting or feuing of the land proposed to be resumed for— i. the building of dwellings; ii. small allotments; iii. harbours, piers, boat shelters or other like buildings; iv. churches or other places of religious worship; v. schools; vi. halls or community centres; vii. planting; viii. roads practicable for vehicular traffic from the croft or township to the

public road or to the seashore; or ix. any other purpose likely to provide employment for crofters and others in

the locality; Figure 2: Excerpt from the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993

It should be noted that croft land is protected for a reason, and it is widely acknowledged that crofting practices help to sustain both Tiree’s population and biodiversity. Any plans to take ownership of Eligible Croft Land with the intention of removing portions of this land from crofting tenure would need to be balanced by retaining important grazing land for use by crofters. Acquiring croft land for the community should not be viewed as a vehicle for taking productive land out of crofting use, but rather an opportunity for making some small, yet game-changing developments on underused areas of low-grade pasture to sustain the future of Tiree’s resident population. Strong leadership from the crofting community would be necessary to successfully manage Tiree’s eligible croft land. Without support and drive from the crofting community it will not be possible establish a new representative Crofting Community Body and progress a crofting community ‘right to buy’ application. If crofters are motivated to progress a buyout of eligible croft land and form a CCB this may lead to other advantages. The establishment of a CCB may help to facilitate and encourage shared ways of working, establish ‘machinery rings’ for sharing equipment, communal facilities (such as holding pens) and collective training and purchasing. All of these developments could help to make crofting on Tiree more efficient and productive. The risk in acquiring the eligible croft land without associated rights, leases and eligible additional land, is that the crofting community will not be much better off after acquiring the land. Income from tenant crofters will not be as much as what could be earned from other land uses and will still need to be allocated toward keeping the land in good heart. Croft land will remain protected by crofting law whether owned by a private landlord or a CCB. This means that after acquiring croft land the rental income will remain less than what can be charged for non-croft land and any proposed development of the land by the new community landlord will require an application to the Scottish Land Court to release the land from crofting tenure (known as a ‘resumption’ of croft land). In Option 1A, therefore, there would be little incentive for crofters to depart from the status quo and assume the burdens of running an estate themselves. Furthermore, without a strong business case for buying the land it will be difficult to attract funding grants to do so. In summary, it appears that the community would gain very little from acquiring ownership of tenanted crofts and common grazings alone.

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Potential for land to: Nil Limited High

Generate regular income Improve communications infrastructure Develop and diversify townships Produce renewable energy Support local land management Provide land-based training Improve facilities for fisherman Create new jobs Establish self-build plots Provide affordable housing

Enhance facilities for tourists

Accommodate a new community facility or building

New facilities the community have suggested that could be sited here:

Developments on croft land are possible if they can be proven to directly contribute to the sustainability of crofting on the island. Croft land may need to be resumed/de-crofted for this purpose and this would require approval from the crofters themselves, the Crofting Commission or the Scottish Land Court. It may be argued that the following uses could be deemed “reasonable purpose”:

• Renewable energy infrastructure • Shared agricultural sheds • Community run abattoir • Affordable housing • Community owned telecoms mast • Rentable business units/workshops

• Any other facility which is likely to provide employment to crofters & other locals

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7.2 OPTION 1B: Eligible Croft Land with Eligible Additional Land 7.2.1 What is ‘Eligible Additional Land’? In addition to ‘eligible croft land’ the crofting community can make a case for acquiring land that is ‘contiguous’ to croft land and held by the same landowner. On Tiree, it could be argued that land ‘contiguous’ to croft land could include the following:

• tenanted farmland (there are 5 tenanted farms on Tiree; Scarinish, Baugh, Whitehouse, Cornaigmore, and Heylipol;)

• inland water (such as lochs) • the foreshore • Scarinish and Milton harbours • hill-top mast/radar sites that we believe are owned by The Argyll Estate

Owner occupied croft land is excluded from this appraisal as it is not held by the major croft landowner (The Argyll Estate). 7.2.2 Summary of benefits and risks The inclusion of eligible additional land within a Part 3 ‘right to buy’ application would provide the crofting community with a broader land portfolio that can facilitate a wider range of development opportunities and possible income streams. Crofting law does not protect eligible additional land and as such this opens up possibilities for how this land can be used and by whom. There is, however, a risk that the Scottlsh Land Court may rule against any of these portions of land being defined as ‘contiguous’ to croft land. The Crofting Community body may choose to designate new crofts on additional land to encourage new entrants into crofting. Although this would not raise as much revenue as other land uses, some communities have found that this can help retrain and grow the resident population23. Choosing to include tenanted farmland would help to expand the remit of the Crofting Community Body to more of Tiree’s agricultural land. Farm lease rates are higher than croft leases and would be a good additional income to the CCB, which could lead to more significant investment in the agriculture sector as a whole. It is however important to note that the rights of tenant farmers to buy their farm without needing a consenting landlord is currently under review. By the time tenanted farmland is acquired by the community, farmers may have an absolute right to buy their tenanted farms 24. Unlike most of Scotland it is believed that The Argyll Estate owns the foreshore on Tiree rather than the Crown Estate. It may therefore be possible to include the foreshore within ‘eligible additional land’. As ownership of the foreshore is not well documented it is likely that ownership would need to be clarified. The Argyll Estate asserts ownership of the foreshore (illustrated in the sale of Gott Bay Pier to CMAL). If The Argyll Estate denies ownership of the foreshore, the rightful landowner would need to be determined by the Scottish Land Court where the argument for including the foreshore as ‘eligible additional land’ would be susceptible to a further court ruling.

23 Source: ’Supporting Crofting Communities: How Highlands and Islands Enterprise contributes in partnership with others’ HIE October 2014 24 The Scottish Government’s interim report on existing agricultural holdings legislation is considering whether this should become an ‘absolute right to buy’ where the tenant farmer would have a right to buy their land whether the landlord is willing to sell or not.

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Owning the foreshore would enable the community to develop and instigate an island-wide strategy for conserving the dune and machair ecosystem, which could lead to Integrated Coastal Zone Management of the island. The foreshore is a rich source of seaweed, an increasingly valuable resource that other islands have turned into an export product for international markets, creating new local jobs25. In the foreseeable future it is possible that new electricity cables from proposed offshore renewables may be landed on Tiree, and with this possibility comes the potential for income for the owner of the foreshore through wayleave duties. This would present an incentive for the community to attempt to buy the foreshore in anticipation of such circumstances. The Crown Estate is supportive of community ownership of foreshore elsewhere in Scotland and this has been illustrated by support given to the Carloway Estate Trust, who in May 2015 became the first community buy-out group in Scotland to acquire the foreshore within their estate.26 This precedent may add weight to the case for including the Tiree foreshore within a Part 3 ‘right to buy’ application. Owning eligible additional land as well as croft land would be a significant undertaking for the community and would require paid staff to cover management and administration. This would create new professional posts, which would need to be paid for by income generated from the land. If an application to include eligible additional land is made without the inclusion of interposed leases and sporting rights then the community will not be able to benefit from the full earning potential of the land.

25 Regional examples of seaweed businesses are: The Hebridean Seaweed Company on the Isle of Lewis, and

Uist Asco Ltd on North Uist. 26 Press release from Carloway Estate Trust, 1st May 2015

http://www.communitylandscotland.org.uk/2015/05/successful-acquisition-of-carloway-estate-by-the-community/






As in Option 1A plus:

• Loch facilities for fly fishermen • Better fishing harbour facilities

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7.3 OPTION 1C: Eligible Croft Land, Eligible Additional Land and the inclusion of Sporting Rights, Mineral Rights

and Interposed Leases 7.3.1 What are ‘sporting rights, mineral rights and interposed leases’? The Crofting Community will have the option of including sporting rights (shooting and fishing), mineral rights and interposed leases located within the eligible croft land within a ‘right to buy’ application. The Crofting Community can only choose to include these rights for eligible croft land; such rights for areas of eligible additional land are outwith ‘right to buy’ legislation. Including sporting and mineral rights, and interposed leases is, however, an option and the community would not be bound to take on each of these rights as part of a land purchase. There are varying degrees of inherent value for each of these rights and choosing to include any rights within a community land purchase is likely to raise the purchase price of the land. It is important that the Crofting Community weighs up the cost of rights against the value they may bring to future plans. For this reason we will consider the inclusion of sporting rights, mineral rights, and interposed leases as a separate land ownership option within this appraisal. The Crofting Community can choose to either buy additional rights at the same time as acquiring crofting land or within a limited period of time after acquiring crofting land. It is also worth noting that it is possible for the Crofting Community to acquire sporting rights and lease these back to the former landowner for a nominal amount for a minimum of 20 years as part of negotiations with the landowner. The term ‘interposed leases’ refers to additional leases that are wholly contained within eligible croft land that the Crofting Community wishes to buy with the exclusion of housing and croft tenancies. 7.3.2 Summary of benefits and risks Holding eligible croft land, eligible additional land and all the associated rights and leases would provide the Tiree community with the maximum potential income from its land and the strongest opportunity to manage and invest in the island. It is estimated that a substantial amount of land-based income is generated through shooting rights, wayleaves and leases on the island. Holding these rights and leases would maximise the income the community could draw from the land but may also inflate the price for acquiring the land in recognition of this added value. One such example of a valuable interposed lease would be the lease held by Tiree Renewable Energy Limited (TREL), a community company, for the site of Tiree’s community wind turbine. The lease agreement stipulates that 5% of the turbine’s annual turnover is to be paid to the landowner. This equates to approximately £27K each year. Half of this fee is then paid to crofters who share rights to this land. If the Crofting Community Body were to become a landowner with rights to interposed leases this could help to retain more money within community that could be reinvested into other beneficial projects. The Vaul Golf Course land, leased by Vaul Golf Club, is also situated on an area of common grazing owned by The Argyll Estate.

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In addition to these known land leases held by community groups there is, at present, an unknown number of private lease agreements with the Argyll Estate. It is difficult to ascertain the exact value of sporting rights, mineral rights and interposed leases on Tiree without sight of the landowner’s accounts and there is a risk that thorough due diligence would be difficult to carry out without the landowner’s cooperation. It should be acknowledged that there are some risks in basing the business case for an island buyout on income from sporting rights. Snipe are the most popular birds to shooting parties that visit Tiree; they are, however, migratory birds and their numbers have been declining. There is a real risk to a future community landowner that the appeal of Tiree as a shooting destination will diminish should snipe numbers decline to the point that the species becomes protected. Further to this it is foreseeable a landowner may need to pay rates for land with sporting rights and potentially a ‘land tax’ in the future. As debates over Land Reform in Scotland continue, it will become clearer how this may affect the cost of holding large areas of land.

See corresponding SWOT analysis and risk assessment in Appendices E & F for further information on perceived risks and benefits associated with this land.






As in Option 1A & B

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8.0 Land options a Community Body could pursue The previous chapter has explored croft land options that could be acquired by a Crofting Community Body (CCB) using Crofting Community ‘right to buy’ legislation. This next section will focus on smaller pockets of land that hold significant potential to address specific community development needs if acquired by a Community Body (CB). It is reasonable to assume that a Community Body would be reliant on external grant funding to satisfy the costs of acquiring and developing land. To meet the assessment criteria for most funders, including the Scottish Land Fund, the Community Body would have to demonstrate a clear need for the land, strong support from community members, and a well-conceived plan for how the land would be used to deliver measurable benefits to the community. As such it is more viable for a Community Body to take on smaller, more manageable areas of land with a clearly defined strategic plan for its development, rather than attempt to acquire a larger land holding speculatively. With this in mind, each of the following land holdings will be assessed against their perceived risks and their potential to deliver measurable benefits to the community. Outwith The Argyll Estate, which owns most of the land on Tiree, there are other plots of land that are known to be in private or public sector ownership. This report will examine the following plots of land in public/private sector ownership:

• Tiree Airport and the Reef, owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) • Gott Pier, owed by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), • The Hynish Centre, owned by The Hebridean Trust • ‘The Camp’ and other privately owned plots along the Kenovay Road • ‘The Glebe’ farmland in Scarinish, owned by the Church of Scotland • Various plots of land & property in Balemartine, Baugh, and Crossapol owned by

Argyll & Bute Council or NHS Highland • Unsold house plots in or adjacent to Pier View Estate, owned by MacLeod

Construction Ltd and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) • ‘I. & F. MacLeod Newsagents & Greengrocer’ shop in Crossapol, owned privately

A Tiree Community Body could choose to exercise their community ‘right to buy’ on any of the above plots that are not yet on the open market. Through Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, a Community Body can register an interest in the land before it reaches the open market, gaining a right to first refusal on the land if the owner decides to sell. Given the current pressure for underused land in public sector ownership to be made available to community for development, it is conceivable that the Scottish Government and local authority may be closer to becoming willing sellers than some private landowners. There is also perhaps an increased probability that publically owned land may be gifted to the community or sold below market rate given recent precedents elsewhere in rural Scotland (See Appendix G). These factors would need to be fully explored in a feasibility study, but this may influence the community’s decision of which, if any, of the above plots should be pursued.

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8.1 OPTION 2A: Tiree Airport Land and the Reef, owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL)

The site of Tiree Airport and the Reef, owned by HIAL, is a substantial area of land situated at the core of the island. The land offers diverse opportunities to address many of the community’s development needs within the most accessible portion of the island. Outwith conservation areas and the airport itself, this land option includes brown-field and neglected areas in and around Crossapol that are designated for housing within Argyll & Bute Council’s Local Development Plan. It seems probable that there would be community appetite for this neglected land to be regenerated to make a positive contribution to the island. During the Second World War the Government requisitioned the Reef from crofting tenure in order to establish a strategic military base and airport on the edge of the Atlantic. Following the war the airport infrastructure has remained in operation and the surrounding agricultural land has been retained in public sector ownership rather than being restored as common grazings protected by Crofting Acts. The Reef site is now owned and operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) who then sublet the Reef grazing areas to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the RSPB in turn lease the grazing rights to neighbouring crofters. Some of the Reef land is believed to have extensive contamination issues emanating from its wartime use, which may be costly to rectify and difficult to budget for. Crumbling concrete shelters and corrugated metal Nissen huts from this wartime era have been left as ruins across the Tiree landscape. Following demolition works at the military base on the Reef, much of the waste material was buried around the Reef site and this is evident in fragments of reinforced concrete that become exposed in the sand dunes, and incidents where grazing cattle have trodden through corroded oil drums hidden under the grass. The full extent of the contamination is difficult to quantify, and much of the land is now heavily protected as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). There may be legitimate grounds for asking the Scottish Government to indemnify the community for any future decontamination costs if it can be agreed that the former Air Ministry failed to rehabilitate the land after it was returned from wartime requisition to its original owner.27 This could result in a reduced sale price from HIAL or financial support from the Government to cover the cost of rehabilitating the site. It should be noted, however, that HIAL and the RSPB have approached the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on this issue, who subsequently stated that the MoD have relinquished all responsibility for decontaminating any requisitioned land on Tiree. The close proximity to the airport will place restrictions on some developments (e.g. tall structures such as wind turbines and communications masts), however, the close proximity to the Tiree Business Centre highlights clear potential for this land to become a commercial hub with some expansion of the Crossapol settlement.

27 The Requisitioned Land and War Works Act 1945 provided for ‘the rehabilitation of requisitioned of damaged land, whether to be permanently retained or not, either directly or by reimbursing the owner with the cost of rehabilitation’. Following requisition by the Air Ministry, the landownership is believed to have transferred to a succession of civil government departments. To find out whether the obligation to restore the land has been lost would require further study.

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The Rural Centre is located on this site and is one of the community’s most successful built projects to date. It is a facility that is well used for agricultural sales and has helped to promote Tiree’s produce. Acquiring HIAL land would include the site of the Rural Centre, which is leased by community group Tiree Rural Development (TRD). Community ownership of this land could see that any money that would have been spent by TRD on leasing land is retained within the community and reinvested into other projects. Although the tariff currently paid to HIAL by TRD is understood to be a relatively minor amount, community ownership or the Rural Centre site could offer TRD greater certainty that rental fees will not increase in the future should the facility become more profitable. Community ownership of the site may also raise the possibility of expanding the Rural Centre’s facilities onto adjacent plots to provide more extensive services to crofters and farmers. Further development of the Centre could be aligned to the training of new crofters, housing ‘machinery rings’ for shared equipment, and the slaughter and packaging of ‘Tiree Meat’ for export to the mainland. All of which would require significant financial investment and the support of TRD, but could have a meaningful impact on Tiree as a productive landscape and potentially sustain new paid roles for individuals who would manage these facilities. With the exception of The Argyll Estate, HIAL is the only other landowner on Tiree whose property includes a stretch of the island’s foreshore. Beyond the airport, HIAL own the grassland area of the Reef and their property extends beyond this to the Mean High Water Mark on Crossapol Beach. More than half of the Reef site is protected as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). This is the highest European designation, acknowledging the land’s international significance as a unique natural habitat that supports a rich diversity of wild flora and fauna. Large areas of this land are also protected as Ramsar wetland and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) (see Appendix H). HIAL bear direct responsibility for maintaining the biodiversity of the Reef site. If the community were to purchase the Reef and adjacent foreshore from HIAL, the Community Body would then assume this responsibility. This would provide the community an opportunity to manage the conservation of the dune and machair system in this part of the island. “Tiree is considered to have the most extensive and diverse area of machair outside the Outer Hebrides. 24% of the island is machair… An Fhaodhail and the Reef is an extensive area of wet machair grading into an extensive marsh and wetland (An Fhaodhail), and is the only site in the Inner Hebrides that is influenced by saline water… The site is unusual in that it is grazed only by cattle, a traditional management practice that has maintained an extremely rich and varied flora.” Source: Joint Nature Conservation Committee website, Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/protectedsites/sacselection/sac.asp?EUcode=UK0014744

“The most important area of all is undoubtedly The Reef, a truly outstanding area for breeding waders (as well as breeding waterfoul and other species)… and represents one of the highest concentrations of breeding waders in the UK.” Source: “Birds on Coll and Tiree” page 32, JNCC/SOC edited D.A. Stroud (1989)

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The Reef grazing is currently leased by HIAL to the RSPB, who in turn sub-let a proportion of the land to neighbouring crofters for grazing. Although historically this was an area of common grazing, it is no longer designated as croft land and as such crofters who work land adjacent to the site have no rights to graze the Reef under the Crofting Acts. Instead, the Reef Graziers are named tenants on the lease agreement between HIAL and the RSPB. The Reef Graziers are signed up to a short-term lease agreement with the RSPB that is continually renewed to allow the Reef Graziers to access the land for grazing. This arrangement has been of mutual benefit to the RSPB and the Reef Graziers. The Reef Graziers’ use of the Reef land is essential in maintaining the condition and biodiversity of the machair habitat, which serves the interests of the RSPB. A Site Condition Assessment conducted in 2012 by Scottish Natural Heritage found that the designated sites within the Reef machair were in a ‘favourable maintained’ condition as opposed to a ‘favourable declining’ condition found elsewhere on the island. The Reef Graziers are reliant on the Reef land for feeding their cattle during the winter months. Should this lease agreement between the RSPB and the Reef Graziers cease, the crofters would have to keep their animals elsewhere on the island and spend significant sums of money on winter feed, resulting in a negative impact on their crofting livelihood. There is currently no reason to believe that this collaborative relationship between the RSPB and Reef Graziers will not continue in the same vein for years to come, however, it should be acknowledged that at present the Reef Graziers do not have the same degree of security over this lease as they would have if the land was leased through an agricultural tenancy or restored as croft land. Agricultural Tenancies, for example secure succession rights for tenant farmers to work the land for up to three generations28. It is possible that community ownership of the Reef could provide greater lease security for the Reef Graziers, and could see the land re-designated as croft land protected for crofting use. The current lease between HIAL and RSPB was established in 1993 and is due to be renewed in 2036. The RSPB are understood to be negotiating a significant extension to their lease of the Reef land from HIAL. If the Tiree community decided to proceed with purchasing the Reef land to develop unprotected areas of the site and provide more secure tenancy agreements for the Reef Graziers, the community would need to act promptly to avoid being tied to negotiating these developments with the RSPB. It should, however, be acknowledged that the RSPB have been supportive of crofting and livestock production on the island to date, illustrated by their willingness to give-up a portion of their leased Reef land to Tiree Rural Development for the construction of the Rural Centre and Mart, which has helped the agricultural sector on the island. As such there is no reason to assume that the RSPB would be obstructive to these community objectives, should the community acquire the HIAL land and become the RSPB’s new landlord. HIAL is a public corporation owned by the Scottish Government. As a public sector organisation there is an increased possibility of this land being made available for community purchase. Members of the CLO Steering Group have made informal initial contact with the Board of HIAL who indicated that HIAL may give positive consideration to being a willing seller. The sale of RAF Machrihanish airbase to the local community sets a useful precedent for community ownership of an airport site. In the case of Machrihanish, the MoD is reported to have sold the airbase to the community for £1, making it possible for community development of the site to take place without significant outlay costs in acquiring the land. In addition, HIAL have continued to be tenants of the site, which has retained air

28 https://www.gov.uk/agricultural-tenancies

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services to Campbeltown and local jobs for airport staff. This precedent suggests that community ownership of Tiree’s airport land would not have a detrimental impact upon Tiree’s air services. Realising community ownership of the airport site portion of HIAL land may be a significant challenge for the community in terms of organisation, planning and raising funds. If HIAL were to become a tenant of a community owned airport this could risk placing significant maintenance burdens upon the community. Responsibility for maintenance of the site would require further investigation beyond this report. The community may decide to negotiate with HIAL that they would retain this responsibility as a tenant in return for reduced or no rental of the site, or the community may decide to omit the airport site altogether from an application to buy the HIAL land. The HIAL land holding as a whole is suitably large and sufficiently diverse to accommodate a variety of development options that would make Tiree a better place to live and work. Early indications of a possible interested seller status suggests that the HIAL land would deliver many of the benefits of Option 1C, but at a smaller scale and with a less complicated acquisition process. Additionally, owning this land may strengthen the case for acquiring the ‘Camp’ adjacent to expand the scale of the development opportunity. If the HIAL land can be acquired and successfully managed, this could give the community greater confidence and experience for taking on a larger buyout of the island at a later date.






• houses • abattoir • business/workshop units • craft/technology space • petrol station

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8.2 OPTION 2B: Gott Pier, owned by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) Gott Pier is owned by CMAL who are wholly owned by the Scottish Government. Gott Pier is an essential part of Tiree’s infrastructure as it enables lifeline ‘roll-on roll-off’ ferry services to land on the island. The pier features a ‘link-span’ drawbridge that was added in 1991 to make it easier for vehicle drivers to land on the island. The CMAL land extends beyond the pier itself to include the ferry terminal and office building built in 2003 that offers some shelter and toilet facilities for waiting foot passengers. The site also includes An Turas, an award winning piece of architecture, areas of car park and part of the coastline surrounding the pier. Most of the site is designated as an ‘area for action’ within the Argyll and Bute Council’s Local Development Plan (see Appendix H). The pier is unsuitable for visiting yachts and tourist boats. Parts of the pier are unusable, becoming steadily more derelict, corroded and unsafe for boats and yachts to tie up there. The sheer height of the pier platform above sea level means that access to visiting yachts would have to be made via long and steep access ladders making the pier unsuitable for use by tourist vessels. In fact there are very few moorings available for visiting boats and very little sheltered locations afforded by the island itself. This has stifled the growth of the high-end marine tourism market on Tiree through sailing trips, which are much easier to accommodate on the neighbouring Isle of Coll. It is arguable that growth in this sector would support investment into high-end goods and services that could be offered by the island. This is one reason why the community of Tiree have over the last 10 years had intentions to progress a campaign for the construction of a new breakwater and safe haven harbour with protected pontoons on this site. Developing Gott Pier would be a sizeable project for a Community Body to undertake and would require partnership working and investment from multiple stakeholders involved. Whilst it could be argued that the community could gain a greater say in the future of the pier were they to become the new owner, it does not appear that this will make it any easier to take a harbour development campaign forward. The major limiting factor on such a development will be the engagement of other stakeholders (CMAL/Scottish Government & CalMac) and their willingness to make considerable investments into the site. Taking ownership away from CMAL (Scottish Government) may diminish their commitment to the site. In fact, given the age of the pier, it may be prudent for the community to avoid taking on the responsibility of funding and managing the maintenance of this infrastructure over the coming years. Until the community investigates a viable business case further, with input from key stakeholders, the Gott Pier does not seem to be the most worthwhile land option for the community to acquire at this time.

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See corresponding SWOT analysis in Appendix E for further information on perceived risks and benefits associated with this land.






• marina • high end tourism facilities

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8.3 OPTION 2C: The Hynish Centre, owned by The Hebridean Trust The Hynish Centre is an important historical site on the southernmost limit of the island. The site was built in the 19th Century to facilitate the construction of Alan Stevenson’s Skerryvore lighthouse some 12 miles off the coast of the island. The Hynish Centre consists of a stone pier and heavily silted harbour that was designed to be evacuated via a sluice gate that held back water flowing downhill from a reservoir. In addition to the pier, reservoir and harbour there is a cluster of historic stone buildings that were formerly stonemasons’ barracks and workshops during the period when the lighthouse was under construction. Now owned by the Hebridean Trust, the Hynish Centre has some of the largest self-catering units on the island and is ideally suited to accommodating larger activity groups that visit Tiree. Renovated in 1991, Alan Stevenson House can sleep up to 21 visitors, whilst Morton Boyd House and The Cottage in the adjacent buildings each sleep up to a further 8 visitors. In addition to this there are 3 holiday cottages. The former barracks have been converted into 4 affordable housing units and there are rentable flats within the lower square, however these properties are known to be in need of significant renovation work to become habitable by modern standards. The remaining buildings host the Skerryvore Lighthouse Museum, and the Treshnish Isles interpretation centre, which are high quality permanent exhibitions on the site. In recent months the Hebridean Trust has approached the Tiree Community Development Trust to ask whether the community would be interested in taking ownership of the Hynish Centre for a relatively small fee. The Hynish Centre could be a wonderful asset for the community, but this proposition should be examined thoroughly as part of a due diligence exercise to ascertain the scale of this undertaking. The Hynish Centre is comprised of listed buildings that carry significant obligations for how they are maintained, and restrictions in how the buildings can be used and adapted. Although it is widely believed that the Hynish Centre is currently underused and could generate more income it is important that this revenue can more than offset any future costs in keeping the property useable and desirable to the public. Ownership housing units that are not fit for habitation on the site would present an opportunity for the community to bring these properties back into use as attractive affordable housing units to address the desire to supply more housing options for island residents. This would provide an alternative to building new houses elsewhere. Again, this prospect would need to be carefully weighed up against the likely cost of renovation works. Despite the site’s distance from other island amenities and its limited car parking facilities, it is an attractive place for residential learning. At present, the facilities at the Hynish Centre are understood to be underused. This site holds great potential as a rural conference venue or a place where immersive courses in Gaelic and musical culture could be used to extend the short tourist season. The Hynish Centre holds strong potential to deliver benefits for the community on various fronts and has an established source of income through tourism which could be further developed.

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• conference venue • rentable business units • high end tourism facilities

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8.4 OPTION 2D: ‘The Camp’ and other privately owned plots along Kenovay Road The ‘Camp’ is a site adjacent to HIAL land and the Skinner Family Shop, and in very close proximity to the airport and the Rural Centre. It is an underused area of land with several dilapidated Nissen huts; relics from the Second World War that are now used for storage. The site is designated as an ‘area for action’ within the Crossapol settlement zone, suggesting that the council planning department would be supportive of redevelopment of the site (see Appendix H). The Camp is in a very accessible location, and the industrial nature of the land would lend itself well to a commercial development of rentable business units or workshops to help stimulate or grow enterprises on Tiree. As mentioned in the SWOT analysis, it is highly probable that this site would have contamination issues that would need to be dealt with before the community could use this land. It is also likely that the Nissen huts will have surpassed their life expectancy resulting in demolition costs before a development of the site can begin. These costs will be very difficult to budget for accurately and may escalate once the clearance of the site begins. This may deter a community from pursuing this land over a greenfield site, but it may also be an incentive for the current owner to sell this sizeable area of land at a reasonable price. The camp is owned privately and the community could register an interest in this land, as it is not yet on the open market. As this is one of the few sites on the island with largely derelict industrial buildings, there is much that could be done to convert this land to a new community asset with a more productive and positive role in the island’s future prosperity. This may be an attractive, yet risky option for the community to take forward. To the north of The Camp, there is a 2 acre site with bungalow on the Kenovay Road that is currently advertised on the housing market for offers in the region of £150,000. This site is considered to be part of the Crossapol settlement zone and would lend itself well to a multiple unit housing project for the community.






• community garden (in raised beds) • rentable business units/workshops • abattoir • swimming pool • art, craft and technology space • petrol station • houses and self build plots

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8.5 OPTION 2E: ‘The Glebe’ farmland in Scarinish, owned by The Church of Scotland ‘The Glebe’ farmland in Scarinish has good proximity to local amenities and attractive panoramic views across Gott Bay. The site is currently owned by the Church of Scotland, includes a manse occupied by the local minister. The manse would be excluded from a community bid to purchase this land. The Glebe farmland is not designated as croft land and is currently leased to two local farmers on a short-term basis. As non-croft land there is slightly more scope for development. This is with the exception of areas to the north of this site that are protected as part of Ramsar wetlands and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). However, most of the southerly portion of the site is designated as a ‘rural opportunity area’ within the Local Development Plan (see Appendix H). It may be feasible that some of this land could be used for facilities to support tourism, housing plots or business units for lease. Possible drainage issues, rocky outcrops, and connections to utilities may further restrict development prospects, all of which are not insurmountable, but may increase the cost of building here. As in the situation with the Reef, those who currently lease The Glebe farmland for grazing may be interested in securing a longer period of tenure. It would also be possible for some of this land to be converted to croft land to support new entrants to crofting if this was desired. The Glebe farmland could be used to support land-based training. It is currently unclear whether the Church of Scotland would be interested in selling off land around the manse to the community. It is unlikely that the land is currently of much benefit to the church at present, and raising capital through a sale, which could be reinvested elsewhere may be attractive to the Church of Scotland.







• some houses and self build plots • chapel of rest • community bunkhouse

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8.6 OPTION 2F: Various plots of land in Balemartine, Baugh, Crossapol, Ruaig and Scarinish owned by Argyll & Bute Council or NHS Highland

The following plots of land are currently believed to be in the possession of Argyll & Bute Council or NHS Highland:

• The Old School House and adjacent garden in Balemartine • The Doctor’s surgery site, house and extensive garden in Baugh • Land between Struthan Terrace and the MacLeod’s shop and a strip of land to

the rear of Struthan Terrace Across these sites there are small plots of land that are underused and buildings which are arguably not as fit for purpose as their modern counterparts. The Doctor’s House has a sizable garden, which could lend itself to becoming the site of a new community building at the rear of the plot. The property itself is currently used by visiting doctors and is therefore perhaps far larger and less comfortable than it needs to be. If the community were to buy the house and surrounding land it may be possible to sell off the house in favour of building several new houses in the back garden for the community and a new house for the Doctor. The old school house in Balemartine functions as a council house property that has been used to accommodate new teachers at the school. These traditional buildings have had some renovation work done to the interior, but still require maintenance to the external fabric and can be difficult to heat. As with the Doctor’s house, these are large attractive traditional buildings, and it may be possible to sell off these properties to fund the construction of other houses that are more comfortable places to live.







• community garden • some houses and self build plots (Baugh) • chapel of rest (Baugh) • community bunkhouse (Baugh) • rentable office units (Baugh)

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8.7 OPTION 2G: Unsold house plots within/adjacent to Pier View Estate, owned by MacLeod Construction Ltd & Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Within Tiree’s Community Growth Plan there is interest in developing houses for the community, making house plots available for sale to the community and establishing more rentable office spaces. These sites could deliver on all of these fronts. The Pier View estate is home to many young families that are resident on the island and seems to be a popular place for younger people in the community to live. The estate is situated between the Gott Pier and the main settlement of Scarinish and has a mix of housing association owned and privately owned properties. There are two sites that are of interest to this appraisal. To the north of the Estate there are several housing plots, owned by MacLeod Construction Ltd, that are yet to be built upon. To the south of the site there is a smaller adjacent site owned by Highland and Islands Enterprise (see Appendix A). The HIE plot has previously been pursued by the Tiree Community Development Trust for use as an adventure park that would be used by children living in the Pier View Estate and elsewhere on the island. HIE withdrew from negotiations with TCDT when a commercial buyer had come forward, it is now our understanding that this sale has fallen through and the land could be pursued by the community again. In 2008 planning permission was granted to MacLeod Construction Ltd to build a further 8 houses on the remainder of the Estate in their ownership. These were planned to be a mix of detached and terraced 2/3 bed homes. These properties are yet to be built, and the original planning permission may have expired. There is a clear opportunity for the community to pursue these plots should they wish to build more houses for the community. The site is already serviced and designated for housing within the council’s Local Development Plan. Although the estate is popular, it does lack any adjacent office facilities for residents who may work from home/run their own business, and, as mentioned above, it has no playground facilities for the children living there. If the community were to take on this land, they may have the opportunity to alter the original planning proposal to include amenities such as these within the estate. The community could build homes here that are made accessible to permanent island residents to help bolster population growth. The site may be one of the few areas of the island to receive fibre optic broadband during the coming years- this would be an enticing selling point to new residents and office users. A building project such as this would require significant capital to realise, and this could partly be raised by selling off self-build plots within the land that help to fund the construction of the rest of the site. A Housing Needs Survey on the island in 2014 suggested that additional social housing for rent was not a high priority for the island, which may make it more difficult to access funding support from the Scottish Government for this proposal. If the community were to pursue this project without Scottish Government funding, and by using other sources, the community would not be tied to developing the project through a Housing Association, and consequently may have more control over the final outcome of the project. However, the survey did indicate that bringing vacant properties back into use and focussing on low cost home ownership should be the focus of future interventions.

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• rentable office units & workshops • playpark • child care facility • art, craft, technology space

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8.8 OPTION 2H: ‘I. & F. MacLeod Newsagents & Greengrocer’ Shop in Crossapol, owned privately

The ‘I. & F. MacLeod Newsagents & Greengrocer’ Shop in Crossapol closed in February 2014 after a buyer could not be found to take on the business. The Tiree Community Trust subsequently took on a feasibility study to ascertain whether the shop could re-open as a community run business. Despite strong support in a community ballot for this proposal, there were insufficient volunteers willing to join a committee to establish such a venture. Since then the Tiree Community Development Trust have agreed a price with the current owners on the basis that applications to the Scottish Land Fund and ‘Community Investment Fund’ are successful. The TCDT have recently been informed that their application to the Scottish Land Fund has been successful. The shop site is located with the Crossapol settlement zone in a very accessible part of the island. The property is well positioned to provide services to the Business Centre, An Talla, The Rural Centre, surfers/walkers at Crossapol Beach and festival goers during the Tiree Music Festival. There will be shared benefits for these nearby properties if the shop site can be developed as a community asset that provides complementary services to these existing facilities and addresses the needs of the wider community. The development should be considered as part of a wider development plan for Crossapol which would help to connect these facilities and perhaps include other areas of land that could strengthen the island’s offering. The shop building itself appears to be in a good condition an immediately useable as a commercial property. The building’s lack of windows to the outside may make it less inviting as a public space, but it does have adjacent land which could be used to extend the existing facility. Feedback from community consultation events suggest there are plenty of individuals seeking additional space for office units, workshops, child care facilities etc, and this would suggest that it would be fairly easy to find new uses for this building that would benefit the community.






• community shop • rentable business units • art, craft, technology space

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9.0 Conclusion After identifying and examining various land options that the Tiree Community may consider acquiring it has become clear at this stage that there is no single land option that has emerged as the single best site for the community to pursue. There is, instead, a short list of plots of land at various scales that appear to hold strong prospects for development, and several sites that are less likely to provide as many benefits to the community. The CLO Steering Group recommend that the following land options are taken forward to feasibility study. OPTION 1C: Eligible Croft Land, Eligible Additional Land and the inclusion of Sporting

Rights, Mineral Rights and Interposed Leases OPTION 2A: Tiree Airport and the Reef OPTION 2C: The Hynish Centre OPTION 2D: ‘The Camp’ and other privately owned plots along the Kenovay Road OPTION 2E: ‘The Glebe’ farmland in Scarinish OPTION 2G: Unsold house plots within/adjacent to Pier View Estate To return to the motivation behind the CLO project and the Tiree Community Growth Plan, it would be best to ask: Which of these sites are most likely to make a significant contribution to the island’s future stability? These strategic sites offer more diverse land use and development opportunities and appear to have the greatest potential for generating revenue and creating employment. This shortlist, therefore, could address a broad range of community needs and make a seismic impact on the island’s future. OPTION 1C If the Crofting Community on Tiree are motivated to exercise their right to buy croft land on the island, it seems logical that the case should be explored with the inclusion of eligible additional land, sporting and mineral rights, and interposed leases. Taking this option forward to feasibility stage would assess what ultimate value could be realised from the land if a full Part 3 ‘right to buy’ application were to be successful. OPTIONS 2A & 2C The Tiree Airport and the Reef, and the Hynish Centre are both sites with owners that are understood to be possible willing sellers and, therefore, the probability of securing a reasonable deal on a land purchase for the community in the near future is more conceivable. These sites are in prominent locations on the island and have established revenue streams and facilities that could be expanded upon and this is worth further exploration.

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OPTION 2D ‘The Camp’ at Crossapol could be considered as a complementary site to the Tiree Airport and the Reef, or a development site in its own right. Its accessible location and derelict condition suggests that a development here could have a positive impact, although there would need to be further investigation into the potential cost versus likely benefits. At this point we do not know if the current owner would be willing to sell. If the CLO Steering Group chose to explore this site through a feasibility study, it would be prudent to start an informal dialogue with the current owner in advance. The available house plot on the Kenovay Road could be progressed immediately, but it is advisable that this is considered within a broader context of other nearby plots to ensure the community is making the most of its money and considering a broader masterplan for the township. OPTION 2E The Glebe is a particularly attractive site because of its picturesque, accessible location. The site has multiple potential uses that could improve tourism, housing and farming facilities on the island. Furthermore the land is not protected as designated croft land, meaning that developments would not require approval from the Crofting Commission. OPTION 2G The unsold house plots in and adjacent to the Pier View Estate could be attractive for establishing a new community housing project or some rented office facilities. As this site has already been designated for housing and has access to utility connections it is easy to imagine the addition of other properties here that are tailored to meet community needs and used to incentivise settlement on the island.

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Recommendations for next steps The CLO Steering Group recommend that the Tiree Community Development Trust (or another established Community Body) submits Part 2 expressions of interest for all of the eligible land options recommended for feasibility study. If this action were to be successful this would, in essence, protect the community’s option to buy should the feasibility study draw positive conclusions and the landowner decided to sell before the community has made an offer. A larger site means a larger development project, which will demand greater effort from the community to plan, manage and deliver a project. The wider community’s appetite and commitment towards different land options will determine how this balance between size of site and available voluntary effort can reasonably be struck, and this will influence which options are progressed. This appraisal has outlined many ‘bite sized’ land options that could be taken on by the community, or in the case of the shop at Crossapol, are already being explored. A smaller portion of land is perhaps more suited to a specific one-off purpose, such as a community garden or shop, and the costs to benefits ratio may be easier to estimate. Although some of these land options may be viable for community purchase, we have not made a recommendation to take all of these options through to a CLO feasibility study due to their limited scope for supporting multiple land uses and wide-ranging benefits to the island. Should we have been tasked with appraising the best land option for a new community telecoms mast, for instance, we would have made different recommendations. Land is an enabling asset, and community-owned land can be a launch pad for many community development projects. Drawing inspiration from successful community land purchases elsewhere in rural Scotland it is clear that land well managed by the local community can have a transformative effect on the prosperity of a place. If the Tiree Community as a whole take a strategic view about pursuing land options that will unlock more of the island’s potential for long-term growth, then Tiree could become a more resilient place to live, work and learn.

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Documents

Tiree Community Land Ownership...Tiree Community Land Ownership Options Appraisal Contents 1.0 Executive summary 2.0 Background 3.0 Development needs identified by the Community of