Arnish Lighthouse

The Arnish Lighthouse is pleased to note that it has won critical acclaim in the most recent posting on The (Made Up) History of Stornoway journal. In a run-down of SY rhyming slang, the Arnish Light is equated to a Load of Sh*te, so talking Arnish is talking a - you know what I’m saying.

Conversely, saying someone is an Arnish Welder actually means that he is a Church Elder. Well, that would make a bonny one. An Arnish Welder talking Arnish. Right.

The community buy-out in Pairc, now running into its 6th year, is twisting into the strangest contortions. After attempting to allegedly spread misinformation amongst those in the community who are not very happy with the Pairc Trust (the body conducting the buy-out process), the landlord is now presenting a bill for a trifling three-quarter of a million pound to the Trust. Failing that, to the Scottish Government.

I tend to agree with the Pairc Trust that the estate owner is now finally revealing his true colours, if they had not already been patently clear beforehand. The community buy-out in Pairc (South Lochs) is taking an inordinate amount of time, with many attempts at thwarting and frustrating the process.

I hope the Scottish Government will finally put its money where its mouth is and bankroll the Pairc Trust rather than the outgoing landlord.

Over the past 15 years or so, I have supported various community buy-outs, most noteable the Isle of Eigg, but also South Uist and other places. The Pairc buy-out is mired down in legalistics, non-cooperation and acrimony.

Yesterday, the Times published an article in which the Assynt crofters bemoan the fact that they cannot make the land pay. That is a fact of crofting life, and I’m seriously disappointed in the forerunners of the community buy-out movement. Back in 1992, the Assynt Trust were the first to take over their land. Judging by the article in the Times, they have taken to squabbling amongst themselves rather than getting on with the job.

Any crofter, and anyone who knows about crofting will be aware that you have to diversify in order to make the land pay. it won’t pay itself by sitting on committees and riding hobby horses through the meeting room. It takes hard graft and inventiveness to make a croft pay.

A good example of a successful community buy-out is the Isle of Eigg. In the 13 years since they bought their island, the Eiggach have worked extremely hard to pay their way. Having the land is only the start. It gives you the opportunity to do what you want and when. But you have to do it yourself, and you have to do it together.

Stop talking and start working, folks.

Hebrides News has published an article, outlining the benefits to be bestowed on the community of South Lochs through the construction of the Muaitheabhal Project, better known as the Eishken Windfarm. These benefits will leave South Lochs out of pocket to the tune of £6.9m. Let me explain.

Initial expenditure
Four turbine sites in the windfarm: £0
Four turbine towers: £18.5m
Contribution to Western Isles Council development fund: £11.5m

Total initial expenditure: £30m

Income
1% of income of main windfarm: £8.75m
Revenue of own turbines: £21.6m

I should clarify that it is unclear whether the above two figures are per annum or over the lifetime of the project

Total income: £30.35m

Contribution
Contribution to Western Isles Council Development Fund: £7.2m (1/3 of revenue, as above)

Net income for Muaitheabhal Community Trust
-£6.9m

Apart from the figures quoted above, The Western Isles Community Development fund will receive £4.4m from the main windfarm over the lifetime of the project, which means £26m in total.

It should be noted that the £18m required to construct the turbines will have to be coughed up by the villagers of South Lochs, whose number stands at a few hundred. Eishken estate owner Nicholas Oppenheimer has set up a loan structure for the South Lochs folks to borrow the money.

I will go so far as to call this “community benefit” a screw-up of monumental proportions. Naturally, if I have misread the article, or if there are clarifications which need to be added to the figures quoted in the article, then I’d be more than pleased to modify this post accordingly.

Arnish Lighthouse would like to extend sympathies to the family of a 5-year old girl on the island of Muck, who died a few days ago of a mystery illness. Only a few hours after playing at her older brother’s birthday, Izzy Fichtner-Irvine died. She was the granddaughter of the island’s owner, Lawrence Macewen. Her funeral took place last week. It was attended by 150 people, who were taken to the island by Calmac ferry and the local tourist boat, the Shearwater. They came from the mainland and from neighbouring islands.

Muck is a tiny, closely knit community of 38 souls, located some 15 miles southwest of Mallaig. It is served by ferry from that port, but inclement weather frequently disrupts sailings, particularly as the slipway is situated in a precarious location in the southeast facing Port Mor.

That is the title of an excellent article on the BBC News website about the island of Eigg, situated about 90 miles south of Stornoway, 15 miles southwest of Mallaig off the coast of western Scotland. The islanders have gone from strength to strength since they gained ownership of Eigg in June 1997. Before that, they had suffered 30 years of maverick landlords who were only interested in the place as a playground or tax dodge. Said lairds were not prepared to make substantial improvements to the island. So, since June 1997, the islanders have done it themselves. In February 2008, they went live with a 24/7 electricity grid, after having to rely on capricious diesel generators for decades. Three windturbines, a handful of hydro-electric schemes, photo-voltaic cells - you name it they have it. And now the Eiggeachs want us all to join in. I can just about see them winning this Big Green Challenge for which they are shortlisted.

I have supported the islanders of Eigg for over a decade. And continue to do so. Go for it, guys!

About 8 years ago, I got involved with the Scottish Islands Network, which sought to bring all the Scottish islands together - the Hebrides from Islay to Lewis, as well as Orkney and Shetland. The aim was to pool knowledge and resources to combat the challenges faced by all islands, irrespective of their location. A funding crisis brought this laudable initiative to its knees, as only Argyll & Bute council were providing finance, with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar issuing rebuff after rebuff, and Orkney and Shetland equally disinterested.

SIN was reborn as the Scottish Islands Federation in 2006, and although they appear to be static I have been reassured they are not. So, I have been asked to relay a request for people in ALL Scottish Islands, not just Lewis, to get in touch. SIF is looking for new members, individuals as well as community groups. There is an application form on the website.

Habost, South Lochs, as seen from Keose

When I arrived in this island in November 2004, I started off in South Lochs. At the time, there was a buzz of excitement in the air, with a vote on the 29th of that month on whether the community would bid to gain ownership of their land. The vote was in favour. The few hundred ‘lochies’ tried to set the wheels in motion to get the Pairc estate under their belt.

I am sad to report that this has so far proved unsuccessful. In my tenure of the Arnish Lighthouse blog, I have been very critical of local and indeed at times national (Scottish) politicians. I am not going to change that stance. I was pleased, in a way, to note that our MSP has finally woken up to the realisation that there was such a thing as a community buy-out bid in Pairc, and finally realised that there was an incredible amount of thwarting going on. Whilst I am very pleased that the Galson estate buy-out was successful, it was overlooked that theirs was NOT the oldest or the first buy-out in Lewis. Theirs was the first one to be successful.

The Pairc buy-out is mired in the deepest South Lochs bog for a couple of reasons. The main one, it would appear, is the way estate owner Barry Lomas is displaying his reluctance to part with his property. I can understand why - there are plans afoot to build a windfarm in South Lochs, which would generate a lot of £££. Mr Lomas is reported to be using the instrument of the interposed lease - leasing the land to another company (which he owns as well). Other reasons for the lack of success in Lochs is the difficulties in describing what the estate actually consists of. There is no definitive map. Instead, we have pinpoint accuracy in descriptions like: “stretching for 400 yards in a southwesterly direction from the Stornoway road”. Furthermore, patches of land may be sublet, sub-sublet, and no trace of who is the main lessee. It is enough to make a stone weep.

Our MSP has finally remembered that the legislation which applies to community buy-outs does not just cater to the benign situation that the landowner willingly parts with his land. It also includes a clause for a hostile buy-out bid. I am still not holding my breath. I’ll have to go through my files, if I can find the Pairc ones under that thick layer of dust and cobwebs, because I faintly remember something about a Land Court hearing that would take many moons to come to a ruling - back in July 2008.

The people in the Pairc Trust will hopefully have a more accurate and up to date status available, and hope that this will be forthcoming in local newsmedia in the very near future.

Postscript
I have just conducted a search on postings on this blog using the search term Pairc. Found at least 3 similar postings to the one I have written above, made in 2008, 2007 and 2006. Just goes to show how stuck this issue is. Let’s hope the Environment Minister at Holyrood, who is responsible for buy-outs, will move things forward before the year is out.

Today saw the Lewis Carnival procession wind its way through the town. There were five floats, two on large lorry trailers, and three on smaller vehicles. The Lewis Pipe Band did them proud, marching on ahead. Just a few pics to give you a taster of the atmosphere near the Coop roundabout.

Sunday ferries --- erm --- fairies

Lewis Peatcutters

Pampered pooches

Homecoming

Click: Footage of the Pipeband

A fourth planning application has been lodged with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for a windfarm in the Eishken Hills. Apparently, half the originally proposed turbines have been lobbed off the scheme - as they were on the Sleeping Beauty Mountain and in the South Lewis / Harris / North Uist Scenic Area. Also, the type of turbines will be changed, namely to a variety that has a higher electricity output. Reading the article on Hebrides News (linked to above) requires a contents warning - have a waste paper bag ready.

It is to be expected that this will be rubberstamped by our local authority. There are only two more obstacles to clear: approval by Scottish Ministers and the outcome of a public inquiry into the Eishken Windfarm, which is already 6 months overdue. I wonder whose hands this hot potato will finally emerge from. It should also be noted that approval of this windfarm will also make the interconnector (mainland subsea powercable) an economically viable proposition. As I have noted before, the interconnector will not be able to be built if the Beauly to Denny high voltage power link is not upgraded. This too is subject of a public inquiry, whose result is equally eagerly awaited.

Perhaps I didn’t read the small print at the time, but it transpires that the community part of the Eishken Windfarm requires the input of a mere twenty million pounds from said community. I have great difficulty keeping the sarcasm at bay here, but knowing Lochs, and more particularly South Lochs, I somehow don’t really see that happening in a hurry.

I realise that Arnish Lighthouse could be accused of Comhairle-bashing in recent times, but I can only hope that the Eishken Windfarm (which nobody really wants) goes the same way as the ferry-not-on-Sunday stance from the local authority - out with the tide.