The residents of Jura have voted by more than three to one to take over the island's only shop.
Some 173 inhabitants were entitled to vote. A total of 139 exercised that right, with one spoilt paper, 31 votes against the idea and 107 votes, 76.9%, in favour.
The 200 islanders' nearest alternative retail outlet is in Bowmore, on Islay, which involves a 10-mile drive from Jura's main settlement Craighouse to the ferry terminal and much further for those who live in the north of Jura. The crossing of the Sound of Islay is then followed by another 10-mile drive. Not to mention the return journey.
The owners of Jura Stores, Steve and Bev Martin have run the shop since 1990, but have found it very difficult to keep going and have been trying to sell the business.
Despite advertising it for sale, there was no interest. They were faced with having to close it down but approached the community-led Jura Development Trust, which has applied successfully to Scottish ministers to exercise a Community Right to Buy under land reform legislation. The Scottish Government appointed an independent valuer who has put a price of £95,000 on the business.
The community has already received development funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Big Lottery to work on the shop project, and the islanders are desperately hoping that these bodies will help fund the purchase now, as widely expected, the community has voted to proceed.
Before the vote Peter Wotherspoon, secretary of the Jura Development Trust, said it was absolutely vital the community secured the shop: "Imagine what it would like to lose our only shop."
Sarah Compton-Bishop, who works with the trust said: "I have done the Bowmore shop run by public transport and it takes five hours there and back. That's from Craighouse, but more than half Jura's population live further north.
"There was a clear vote in favour of the buyout so we will now send these results to the Scottish Government for them to further consider the community right to buy application before making the final decision."
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereCommments are closed on this article