Our island is crowdfunding ... for a crowd
IT is known as the ‘jewel of the Hebrides’ thanks to its unspoiled beauty and relaxed pace of life.
But Colonsay needs to boost its population – and residents are now fundraising to build affordable housing.
The island, part of the Inner Hebrides, is home to around 130 people. But fewer than 30 of them are younger than 50 and only ten are aged 18 and 30.
The local primary school has only eight pupils, which will halve at the end of this academic year.
The community-owned Colonsay Community Development Company (CCDC), is proposing to build nine homes.
If this is successful, it hopes to follow up with another 12 houses.
More than 40 per cent of the current housing stock is nonresidential and used as self-catering lets or second homes.
CCDC director Caitlin McNeill, 27, a law student, said: ‘There is no shortage of people who would like to live here.
‘We have had more than 20 expressions of interest in this development already. We have families, elderly residents and many key workers struggling in substandard housing over long, wild winters. But the harsh reality is that, for most of us [affordable housing] is just not an option.’
The CCDC has set up a crowdfunder in a bid to raise £25,000 for the project. Funding is also coming from the Scottish Land Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Argyll and Bute Council.
The aim is to buy a five-acre plot from Colonsay Estates, the island’s major landowner. This investment alone amounts to £500,000 – before a single drop of cement is poured. Miss McNeill said: ‘It is a big challenge for our small team of volunteers but we have been very ably supported and the warmth and encouragement of the wider community has been amazing.
‘We are at breaking point and we have to make a change.’
It comes as ministers are urged to consider a points-based visa to attract people to the islands.
A report by the Scottish Government’s expert advisory group on migration and population states: ‘Remote and rural areas face significant demographic challenges... their population is declining as well as ageing.’
It suggests relaxing the UK Government’s skilled worker visa for certain areas.
But a UK Government spokesman said: ‘Our new points-based immigration system is focused on the skills and talents people have to offer, not where their passport comes from.’