Sunart Community Company snap up woodland for community use

The woodland sits up on the western edge of the community, with views towards Loch Sunart, a popular destination for wildlife-watching and itself a Marine Protected Area.

The buy-out, which was supported with Scottish Land Fund funding, is another success for Forestry and Land Scotland’s (FLS) Community Asset Transfer Scheme (CATS), which SCC first engaged with back in 2018, when FLS offered the community first refusal after having identified the woodland for disposal.

Despite the community-led consultations and feasibility studies being interrupted by Covid 19, the potential opportunities offered by the woodland - including skills development, recreation and income generation – resulted in a CATS application.

Sunart Community Company Director, Andrew Hughes, said: “Ours is a very strong-knit community but like many other rural populations, developing and strengthening that cohesion is vitally important especially for our young people.

“We have a vision of ‘Keeping Sunart a great place to live, work and visit’ and we saw how Longrigg Wood, which sits on the edge of the village alongside the crofting township of Ardnastaing, could make a real contribution to helping us achieve that.

“It’s been a long journey to get to this point but we can now set about bringing all of our aspirations and plans to life.

“The community has really come together around this project and I would recommend other communities around the country to take a closer look at CATS and the potential on their own doorsteps.”