The Problem

Our petrol station is threatened with closure due to retirement of the owners, and the business case for a commercial purchase is very weak. We are likely to end up with no fuel within 24 miles (and more for the isolated parts of our district). If people are forced to travel out of the area for fuel, they will tend to do all their shopping on the same trip, affecting other local shops and businesses . Carbon emissions will increase as people are forced to travel at least 48 miles round trip for fuel, over single-track mountain roads. Even running garden tools will become problematic, and our local Life Boat and volunteer Fire Service will have problems with adequate supply.

The Solution

This type of scenario is a perfect fit for a community enterprise response: improving the resilience and sustainability of the local area; providing opportunities for business and employment; and helping our community plan ahead for the switch to electric vehicles. We need a community-owned petrol station to secure fuel supplies in the area in the medium-term, install charging points, create business units for rent, and refurbish the historic building as a community transport and resilience hub. Having run two community consultations in the past two years we know that people will continue to need fuel for the next 10 - 15 years, that there is demand for workshop spaces for small businesses and that the petrol station building (a former Victorian pier house) has a high heritage value for the local community.

Opportunities

Since consulting on the community purchase of the petrol station, we have a had two direct approaches from potential workshop tenants. One local community group has a waiting list of small businesses looking for premises, so the creation of new work units would have a positive impact on the local economy. With joint support from the Scottish Land Fund we would be able to employ a Project and Transition Manager, tasked with delivering improvements to the building, installation of charging points and other renewables measures, managing the workshop spaces and developing our plans for electric community transport. We see many benefits arising from this project as well as securing a vital service.

Current Stage of Planning

We are about to apply to the Scottish Land Fund for support in meeting the purchase price and employing a part-time member of staff. Other funds will come from applications to charitable trusts and the Scottish Government, a community share issue and our own resources. We have a clear idea of the costs of the building refurbishment and the replacment of the fuel pumps with card payment models. Support to install charging points will be our other target for the early stages after our community purchase and there are several possible sources of funding.

Longer Term Goals

The move away from fossil fuels is envrionmentally and socially necessary. Climate change is driving a rise in the number of destructive weather events - Storm Eowyn resulted in a five-day power cut for the district. Our scattered population has a very high percentage of older people and the lack of power and communication was very concerning for them. In bringing the petrol station to community ownership we are not blind to the impact of carbon emissions and their effect on community resilience and environmental sustainability.

Although it may seem paradoxical, our purchase of the petrol station will help in lowering carbon emissions by removing the need for unnecessary journeys of around 50 miles. It will protect local services by keeping a point of sale in the area. It will make the district more secure in providing a storage space for emergency resilience supplies (like camping stoves and satellite phones to be used in future storms). It will allow us to install charging points and solar panels. It will bring a restoration of the adjoining pier into consideration as a tourist and leisure resource for swimming and boating. It will give us a site to base the community transport project that was viewed so favourably in our 2023 community survey. All of these achievable goals mean that the community buy-out will be benefiting the area long after the need to sell fossil fuels is gone.

1  We would like to refurbish Alan Stevenson House (ASH) to offer a locally inspired restaurant, bar with 6 ensuite rooms (1 disabled).  We would like to upgrade the Harbour with pontoons and seating/viewpoints to take in the wonderful natural environment and encourage people to come by boat to the site in the summer months.  Morton Boyd Hall (MBH) is an excellent multi purpose facility that just needs some upgrading and could complment any activities going on at the site.    The site at Hynish, with its heritage and special quality of place, has the opportunity to develop its local hospitality and develop something of a Hub for the southern end of the island.  Capturing tourism and events spend, alongside island/day visitor spend would provide a revenue stream.

2  The Skerryvore Shore Station was transferred to the Tiree community in January 25.  The transition has taken 3 years.  There are 3 income streams - Housing, Heritage and Business -  that will ensure it is a sustainable community organisation going forward.  We have been reviewing the use of our 20+ A listed buildings to ensure they are fit for purpose and revenue earning where possible.   ASH was first rebuilt in 1990 as a hostel type accomodation for groups with special needs.  it was only used for a few weeks in the summer months and was always a overhead for the charity.  MBH had been used to house the exhibition/museum but originally had been rebuilt as a multi purpose hall.  The harbour stands strong against the incredible tides and weather.  It is a viewpoint for sealife and birds.  The community when asked what they would like to see at the site in our survey and subsequent community events were clear that Business should be a priority.   84% said that they wanted a restaurant/cafe, quality accomodation and event space all year round.  They also wanted the Harbour preserved.  So our community mandate was clear.  We have piloted the restaurant and rooms over the past 2 years and now believe that it could definately work if we had a good standard of accomodation to offer and a multi purpose space for events.  We have moved the exhbition to another building to free up Morton Boyd Hall so that we have a this multi purpose facility.  We will then be able to work with community groups to put on a variety of events and functions during the year.  We will also be able to provide permanent employment for locals.

3  We can already see from our pilot that our community is very positive about the fact we have a local family working at ASH and have created year round employment for locals.  We have trialled a number of community events over last winter and they proved to be very popular.  The Tiree people just love the shore station and feel a strong sense of guardianship.  The pilot has also showed us that we could have a reasonable income stream from this.  We now have some facts and figures to base our projections on which gives us confidence this is the right way forward.  All the buildings at Hynish need to work and complement each other to ensure the "place" is kept in alignment.  The pilot has demonstrated that the restaurant/rooms/bar and events do contribute greatly to this.  The project would enhance the employment opportunities; keep a family with 3 children living on Tiree as they have jobs; provide the much needed income stream to ensure sustainability; reduce running costs; make the buildings all more energy efficient and in line with our aim to lower the carbon footprint and provice a place for people and business to floutish.

4  The project will start early in 2026 and be completed by November 2026.

1 What do we want to do?

Tobermory Fisherman's Pier Association intends to renovate and improve Thomas Telford's hisoric pier for the use of fishermen and other commercial users.  We would like to preserve the pier as a place that can be used and enjoyed by locals and visitors alike.  We want to open the pier to other commercial users and provide a solution to the risk of flooding caused by increasingly higher tides.  A structural engineers report has been commissioned and has provided a plan for remedial works.

2 Why is the project needed?

While the pier is a vital economic resource for the fishermen of North Mull, it is also an essential and integral part of Tobermory's built heritage.  Without the pier the fishermen would need to look for alternative space to store and repair gear.  They would have to use moorings or pontoons and they would have to use alternative means to land their catch.  All of these alternatives are costly, inconvenient and not as safe as the platform provided by the pier.

We have the support of the community and are backed by Mull Community Council, Tobermory Harbour Association and Mull and Iona Community Trust.

3  What positive changes will our project bring about?

The proposed improvements to the pier will provide a fit for purpose structure that will enable the fishing community, and other commercial users, to have confidence in the long-term viability of their businesses and provide the oppurtunity to support new entrants to the sector.  Securing the long-term future of the pier will enable it to remain at the heart of the community for centuries to come, bringing economic benefit to the town as a platform for the fishermen and also as part of what draws visitors to Tobermory.  It will continue to be a much loved hub for community celebrations and a valued civic space for locals and visitors to enjoy.

4  How long will our project run for?

The project will start in March 2026 and run for seven months.

Please refer to the attached PDF file for our more comprehensive proposal.

This project meets RCGF criteria: address vacant / derelict land as well as supporting locally developed, place-based regeneration projects that involve local communities, helping to tackle inequalities and improving the economic, social and physical environment of deprived, disadvantaged and fragile remote communities across Scotland. It is community led, and will result in strong regeneration outcomes.

The Rockfield Garden is leased and run by Oban Communities Trust, a Community Benefit Society run by and for its members and the wider community. 

We are transforming a disused, previously cultivated food production area into a vibrant and inclusive community growing space, but need funding to realise our vision. This project is rooted in a growing community movement: over the past year, more than 1,100 volunteer hours have been contributed at The Rockfield Garden. The momentum is clear—and this garden will be a living, growing symbol of community action.

The space, located behind The Rockfield Centre, was previously used to grow fruit, vegetables, and flowers for the former McTavish's Kitchens, but has since lain derelict.

What will your project do? Over the last 12 months a 25+ band of volunteers have spend over 1000 hours on Phase 1, preparing the space for cultivation. We are now seeking funding for Phase 2, which will initiate food production and support both experienced and novice growers, fostering strong community involvement.

• Installing fencing and handrails to ensure safety and accessibility
• Building raised beds and flexible growing spaces for communal and individual use
• Constructing a weatherproof meeting shelter and a secure tool shed.
• Providing tools, gardening equipment, seeds, compost, and plants.
• Developing a community composting system to promote circular growing practices.
• Installing bee hives, chicken coops, and a community orchard
• Offering a varied programme of community engagement and educational growing activities, including informal social gardening drop-ins, volunteer action days, and community education.

Why is your project needed? Oban currently has no community growing provision, and local residents lack accessible opportunities to grow, learn, and contribute. As a rural town we are also heavily reliant on imported food, reducing local food resilience and creating disproportionately high food mile loadings. This project will:

• Provide the community with growing space, tools, and support to grow food locally.
• Encourage healthier lifestyles and increased social connection through shared, hands-on activity
• Respond to the pressing need for increased food resilience in the face of climate change and supply chain vulnerabilities.
• Help diversify the town’s food sources, reducing reliance on imported produce and associated transport emissions.
• Create a learning hub to build knowledge and practical skills in sustainable food growing, composting, and ecological gardening
• Offer a mix of communal and some individually managed plots, providing flexibility to suit different needs and abilities.
• Enhance community cohesion and empowerment through participation, ownership, and shared outcomes.
• Contribute to the Rockfield Centre's mission to reduce its carbon footprint and provide wholesome, healthy, affordable community meals.

What positive changes will your project bring about? The Rockfield Garden will deliver wide-ranging benefits across environmental, social, and educational areas:

• Environmental Impact: With an estimated growing area of 1,400m², there is potential to produce 2,000–3,000kg of fruit and vegetables annually. This local production could reduce food miles and cut an estimated 3–4 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year.
• Food Resilience: In light of climate change and global food supply threats, local food production is a vital adaptation strategy. Growing food locally in Oban will contribute to community-level food security and resilience.
• Health and Wellbeing: Access to growing spaces and outdoor activities supports mental and physical wellbeing. Gardening fosters regular physical activity, better nutrition, and emotional connection to nature.
• Learning and Empowerment: Hands-on education will equip participants with valuable skills in food production, sustainability, and ecological stewardship.
• Community Cohesion: The project will bring together people of all ages and backgrounds, strengthening social bonds, reducing isolation, and building a sense of place and purpose.
• Sustainability: By incorporating composting and circular practices, such as seed saving, the garden will serve as a practical example of sustainable community living. By transforming this underused land into a thriving garden, we’re not just growing food—we’re growing community, resilience, and shared futures.

How long will your project run for? This is a long-term project that is ticking along in Phase 1, but requires substantial funding to move to Phase 2. Once funded, we anticipate c. 1 year to do the required structural works. We anticipate the total works requiring c. 70k, including staff time, but would gladly accept smaller amounts of funding which would allow us to complete the project in a modular fashion.

Inveraray Pier has been in a cycle of neglectful private ownership for over 20 years, and closed to the community, visitors and marine traffic for 10 years. In July 2023 Inspire Inveraray secured funding to purchase the pier on behalf of the community and has since successfully restored and opened the stone part of the pier to the public, however the timber pier remains closed and is in desperate need of restoration. 

The objective of the project is the restoration and opening of the existing timber peir. The heritage of the timber pier is at the heart of the community, and was identified as a priority in a recent community consultation. The timber pier is in extremely poor condition and ,without restoration, the risk of loss of a valuable local asset is inevitable.

Restoration works will commence as soon as funding has been achieved, ideally starting in October 2025.

The community ownership of the pier has given a sense of pride and achievement to local people who are now keen to help and get involved to get the timber part of the pier restored. This is the opportunity for the local community to manage a valuable local asset and to complete the full restoration of the pier including the timber part. Reopening the pier has connected local communities and is building confidence in the achievability and benefits of community asset ownership.

The pier is the gateway to Inveraray and for the past 10 years had been an eye sore in the town. Restoring the timber part of the pier will help increase the number of visitors to the town by boat, creating an opportunity to generate an income that can be reinvested into community projects.

The pier will be a flat and open accessible space encouraging activities such as water sports, community events and gatherings amongst the local community. Fully restoring the timber part will allow more vessels to moor in Inveraray, serving as a safe transfer platform for cargo and passengers.

Once fully restored, Heritage boards will be commissioned for placement on the pier to provide historical background for local people and visitors visiting Inveraray and its treasured pier.

1. What we want to achieve.

The Cairnbaan Community Trust, (SC052905) wants to refurbish the forestry buildings to provide a community gathering point and flexible workshop and event spaces. We want a community hub that can be used by the community for education such as crafts and Gaelic, health e.g. yoga and other activities, recreation and social gatherings, inside and outside and temporary office space for local entrepreneurs.

Our priority is the smaller of the two buildings which will provide space for community events and workshops, social meeting space, hot desks and a community kitchen. There is external space that can be developed to provide a community garden and outside event space.  It is hoped in the future the larger of the two buildings can be developed to provide space for larger workshops and events.

We have divided the work into phases and we are currently seeking funding for phases 1 and 2. 

Phase 0: This covers the procurement of the forestry buildings under a community asset transfer funded by the Scottish Land Fund and we have secured initial funding for essential repairs to both buildings to make them safe and weatherproof.  The work will start when we take ownership on the 01/08/2025.

Phase 1: Is the refurbishment of the smaller building.  This phase will change the internal layout of the building to create flexible spaces.  This entails new partitions, doors, lighting and upgrade to the heating.  Additional facilities, external and internal, will be needed for disabled and users with special needs.  We also aim to fit a community kitchen and social space for coffee mornings.   Finally we need to replace windows and install new furnishings and fittings.

Phase 2: Is the landscaping and provision of a community garden and outdoor space.   

Phase 3: Is the refurbishment and fitting out of the larger building.  In this phase we also plan to look at energy efficiency improvements, e.g. heat pumps and solar panels.

2. Why our project is needed

Currently there is no community centre to provide a focal point or resources for the community.   There is a risk of social isolation amongst our older population and there are no facilities for the young people in our village.  Community cohesion is being eroded.

We commissioned a feasibility report through Community Enterprise which highlighted the following points. Accessing facilities is difficult without a car, the minimal bus service is a school service with no evening or Sunday services.  There are no shops, medical or other services in the village.  Despite scoring highly in other domains the area falls into the 10% most deprived areas in Scotland in terms of access to services in relation to the Scottish indices of multiple deprivation. Feedback from local people highlighted that a primary need in the community is an indoor social area and meeting space.

3. The positive changes our project will bring

Our vision is to reduce isolation, improve community life and reflect the cultural, environment and historic heritage of the area. The current priorities for the CCT are.

• Bringing the community together to enable opportunities for social interaction and growth.
• Advancement of arts, heritage, culture and science.
• The provision and organization of recreational facilities to improve the quality of life for the community.
• Improving the environment including education about the environment, culture and history.
• The relief of thos in need either because of age, ill health, disability or financial hardship.

The refurbishment of the buidings will provide a focal point for the community and the resources to bring the community together especially those that feel isolated. It will provide resources for all ages across the community and give everyone opportunities for development and a sense of purpose and indentity.

Through current engagement with the local community we have already identified skills and volunteers that can contribute to the refurbishment which will foster community involvement from the outset

4. How long will our project run

Phase 1 and 2 of the project will start on: 05/01/2026

The project will run for: 15 months

Our Business plan and the Feasibility report are available on request.  Unfortunately the file size was too big to attach.

In 2021 and 2022, IKDT secured funding to construst 1.79KM of brand new road connecting the North and South of the island. This project has been in the pipeline for many decades and has connected up the two different communities and is allowing our island to thrive as one. Just after we have secured the funding for the 2nd stage of the project, the tar topping, war broke out in Ukraine. Apart from the obvious humanitarian crisis, this had an instant impact on the price of all the raw materials required for surfacing. It meant we had to scale stage 2 back and make do with tarring the new built section of the road with a single layer of tar and leave approx 500 metres of road in an unbound, farm track state. Our plan for stage 2 had been to deliver 2 layers of tar over the new road (1.79km) and the 500m of existing road when we could petition the council to adopt the road as it connects up the existing council road to several council tax paying households. As it stands, while the road is in use and is hugely beneficial to life on the island however the maintenance burden on IKDT is not ideal. The council will not consider adoption until the road is brought up to the standard we had planned for stage 2 so we are hoping to complete the job. Adoption is key to the long term future of the road and indeed to whole community as it will allow unfettered access to all including vital services, emergency vehicles and access to the lifeline ferry service. The surfacing could be delivered in one week but the effects would be felt for generations to come. We would hope to continue the excellent working relationship with A&B Roads department to help deliver the best value for money possible.

The new sports facility will be suitable for all weather conditions and will enable the playing of various sports on the same surface, including five-a-side football, netball, basketball, and shinty practice.

The Jura Community Development Plan, produced by the Jura Development Trust, highlights the necessity for improved youth and recreational facilities on the Island and concludes that further investigation is required regarding the preferred nature of these facilities.

Developing community-owned and managed assets is strongly supported by national and local policy.

This proposal meets RCGF criteria:  supporting locally developed, place-based regeneration projects that involve local communities, helping to tackle inequalities and improving the economic, social and physical environment of deprived, disadvantaged and fragile remote communities across Scotland. It is community led, addresses market failure (inadequate parking and outdoor event space) and will result in strong regeneration outcomes.

The Rockfield Centre is owned and run by Oban Communities Trust, a Community Benefit Society run by and for its members and the wider community. It sits within c. 2000 m2 of old playpark, currently used as a car park

What will your project do? The project will re-surface the existing outdoor space surrounding The Rockfield Centre, resulting in a safe, smooth surfaced area which can be used to bring the community together through large-scale outdoor events, create economic additionality by unlocking new potential for town centre events, and contribute to ongoing town-centre carparking demand.

Why is your project needed? In the recent past, The Rockfield Centre's outdoor space has been used for a range of outdoor events from the Clipper food and drink village (July 2024) and the centre's Spring Festival (June 2025), whilst day-to-day it contributes ~ 50 spaces to the town centre parking supply - a critical resource during peak season. However, the space is badly in need of resurfacing, both to ensure its future as a carparking resource and to enable its use as a safe and accessible community gathering space. 

What positive changes will your project bring about? We belive that this project will unlock huge potential for outdoor events within Oban town centre, with benefits for business, local charities, and the wider community. Our strategic planning has identified a need within the Oban town centre area for a flexible and adaptable outdoor space that can be used by community groups for a wide range of activities - including markets, concerts, festivals, and outdoor theatre. Our outdoor space is the ideal location for holding these events as it is enclosed, easy to secure, and removes the need for disruptive and costly road closures which would be highly advantageous in a town which regularly experiences traffic flow issues and can struggle with capacity at peak times. We believe that Oban and the wider community will benefit from this project as it will open up opportunities which have otherwise not been considered, as there is no alternative suitable town centre area that can offer these facilities. This project will allow these opportunities to be fully explored and realised. The Rockfield Centre is strategically placed at the heart of the town, and is open to all. We have a track record of successfully delivering exciting, inclusive, and novel community-focussed events alongside large contracted projects, and are fully commited to working collabaratively and building strength through partnerships.

How long will your project run for?  Once funding is in place, the works could be completed quickly with actual disruption to the space kept to 2-3 weeks. We estimate the cost to be £60k (based on quotes obtained in summer 2024). We aim to have this work completed by the end of 2025.