Another community in the Western Isles is to pursue a community buyout of their local estate, with over 80 per cent backing the move .
The owners of the 44,000 acre Barvas estate on the west side of the island of Lewis indicated in 2013 their willingness to negotiate a sale of most of the estate's assets to the local community.
There are 300 crofts on the estate and an adult population of about 1,000, in Barvas and Shawbost. It also includes the uninhabited islands of North Rona and Sulasgeir.
The latter is the scene of the annual controversial 'guga hunt' in August . That's when 2,000 gannet chicks are harvested on the small island about 40 miles north of Ness on Lewis, by the party of men from Ness.
The Barvas Estate Trust was set up to progress the community purchase. It has plans to build 40 affordable homes, erect five community owned turbines and establish an environmental interpretation centre.
The proposed purchase will include the land and a salmon hatchery, but some buildings and the fishing rights will be excluded from the sale. The community will now seek support from the Scottish Land Fund.
Their aims is to make the estate, which has been owned by the Duckworth family for 85 years, work for the local community with a target income of around £60,000 a year.
If the buyout is successful it will maintain the momentum of the movement which has seen around 70 per cent of the Western Isles come under community control.
Western Isles SNP MSP, Alasdair Allan, congratulated the people of Barvas on their decisive vote in favour of community ownership of their estate
He said
"With over 80% of people in the Barvas Estate community voting in favour of ownership of the land by the people who live there, this represents a real opportunity for economic development of this area. The estate, which takes in Barvas and Shawbost areas, as well as North Rona and Sulasgeir, will I hope be the latest in a series of community buyouts in the islands.
"I think that the best people to run Barvas estate are the people who live in these communities and that was clearly the overwhelming view taken by residents themselves. "
He said there was some way still to go in the buyout process and he had written to the trust offering to help.
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