Please find enclosed our April 2014 newsletter update, which has been posted through the letterboxes in the village.
Leadhills Community Buyout Newsletter
On the 18th of January a successful meeting was held at the Village Hall to introduce the idea of our community registering an expression of interest in a community buyout initiative if the Hopetoun Estate decide to put land in Leadhills on the open market.
Over 90 people attended what was the largest village meeting that Leadhills has held in recent years. During this meeting key speakers such as: David Cameron (Chair, Community Land Scotland) and John Hutchison (Chair, Eigg Heritage Trust) addressed the audience on their experience of community buyouts.
There were many other speakers who covered the community buyout registration process; possible sources of support and funding; benefits of registering an expression of interest; and covering the journey of a community buyout from initial interest to full ownership.
Local speakers gave ideas that we, as a community, could do with owning our own land.
At the end of the meeting several volunteers put their names forward to join a steering group to take things further. At this meeting “expression of interest” forms were available for members of the community to complete. So far we have collected over 100 completed forms of support from the community.
For your information – according to current community right to buy legislation, any community wishing to express an interest to buy land must have community support of at least 10%. Please note this is to register an expression of interest only.
The first meeting was held on 26 January 2014 at which a steering group was officially formed. The main work of the steering group will be to lay the groundwork for the expression of interest. To undertake this, according to the Community Right To Buy legislation, a company limited by guarantee will need to be set-up. Once the community company has been formed, the registration process can then begin.
The group has also made it of importance to keep everyone informed with an opportunity to become involved. So this newsletter is a beginning. So please look at the website and come along to any of the steering group meetings which are held at the Hopetoun Arms on the second Wednesday of the month and commence at 7:30pm.
Further Information
To stay up-to-date with progress please visit our new website http://www.leadhillscommunity.org or send us an email using the contact us form on the website.