January 26 2010

West Harris Trust has acquired 16,000 acres of government owned land in the Western isles after raising £70k from public bodies.

The purchase will see the Trust promote Harris as a place to live and work by identifying house building sites and bringing under used land into production with three new crofting estates– Scaristavore, Borve and Luskentyre.

This forms part of the organisations aim to encourage new families to move to the area. Only one child of school age currently lives on the island which has a population of 123, raising questions as to the communities long term viability.

The Scottish government have been pursuing a policy of community ownership as a means of fostering self sufficiency and boosting economic development and skills.

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