Urras an Taobh Sear / Staffin Community Trust is asking local people what the community’s priorities should be, ahead of producing a fresh blueprint for the next decade.
SCT has launched an online survey via this website and will host a public event next month to canvass the views of local people so they can shape and guide the future work of SCT.
Taobh Sear 2034 / Staffin 2034 comes on a special anniversary for Community Land Scotland (CLS), an organisation which has provided strong support and to SCT in the last few years as it purchased land for the very first time.
It will also be 30 years next year that SCT was first formed.
It is 100 years since the first significant community buyout in Scotland, when Lord Leverhulme gifted the town of Stornoway to the townspeople.
The annual celebration of community ownership, which is organised by Community Land Scotland and the Scottish Government, has been extended to a fortnight this year rather than the usual week-long event. Many of the community projects were set up with financial help from the Scottish Land Fund.
Staffin is among 40 plus communities, across the length and breadth of Scotland, taking part in CLS anniversary events.
SCT has spent the last decade working hard at developing and delivering projects for the betterment of the Staffin community including the Taighean a’ Chaiseil development, Staffin Harbour, Sùil nam Brà (Crofters' Memorial) and the Skye Ecomuseum: Druim nan Linntean.
Hugh Ross, SCT’s development officer said: “The work of the trust reflects what local people in Staffin believe are the priorities for their community and this is an opportunity to pinpoint what they want to see happen in the next decade.”
Linsay Chalmers CLS’s development manager, said: ‘This is a special year for community empowerment and it’s fantastic to have vibrant projects such as Taobh Sear 2034 / Staffin 2034 participating. Every buyout, large or small, urban and rural, is very important to its community. A lot of people have worked very hard to make these buyouts successful and we very pleased to celebrate that success across Scotland.’
The Taobh Sear 2034 / Staffin 2034 survey is live on the SCT website: https://docs.google.com/forms/...
A full public consultation event will be held on Friday, November 17 at Staffin Hall.
Community Land Scotland was set up in 2010 as a voice for community landowners, to help its members share knowledge and information, and to encourage communities to consider landownership and highlight the benefits of community landownership to Scotland.
Around 500 community groups now own 212,000 hectares of land and numerous buildings across Scotland.
