Stop press! Rum islanders have voted 15-2 in favour of transferring land from Scottish Natural Heritage to a Community Trust. It's a big result for all the people and agencies involved, but I can see it's possible to be underwhelmed by the small numbers involved.
There's another way of looking at it. Of all the community buyouts I've been involved with, this is the tiniest but also one of the bravest. Rum has none of the security in numbers that encouraged the 2,700 islanders in the South Uist buyout. There's been none of the ten year build-up that happened on neighbouring Eigg. There was no new owner round the corner – the prospect which encouraged action in Assynt. There was no need -- if Rum people had said no, SNH would have been obliged to keep running the show. And there was nae luck with timing – no previous buyout was launched in the middle of a recession.
My job as Taskforce Chair continues till the end of February – to make sure SNH and the government deliver the support they've promised and that Rum loses that "Forbidden Island" tag in 2009 to become a new kind of people-focussed National Nature Reserve.
And if there isn't a party on Rum on Feb 28th when the land's transferred and the lottery application is finally submitted, I'll be cooking hamburgers on the beach! Anyone else want to come?
Comments