Community Buy-out of RAF Machrihanish

[Les]

Apologies for the length of this posting but I thought it was important to give as much info as possible.

There is currently speculation that at some point in the near to medium future that the MOD will give up RAF Machrihanish and eventually offer it for sale to a developer. However, what you maybe don't realise is that under the recent Land Reform legislation, the Community here in South Kintyre has a right to register an interest in the facility which will prevent it from being sold from under our noses without being offered to us first. Importantly, even if the MOD has no current plans to sell, we can still register our interest so as whenever they do they can't do so without offering it to us first.

Why should we do this? For one simple reason. The airfield is a unique asset to the area but we have never had proper access to it before. It could revolutionise the whole of the West Coast on a variety of fronts. If we don't act, and it is sold, the community will be completely by-passed and someone else will receive all the benefits. They might not even want to use it as an airport. In fact we would have little say beyond the planning process what they did with it. On the other hand, if the community owns it, we have a say in what is done at the airfield site and also a share in the money it generates which will feed back into the community for good causes. Not much of an argument there I would suggest.

If we register our interest, the Executive will decide whether or not we have a competent case and if so, this will be entered on the Community Land Register. So far, the Executive has largely found in favour of the community rather than the landowner when called to make the decision. When the land finally goes up for sale, the ground will be valued by the Local Assessor, and the Land Fund will provide 94% of this cost and the community will have to find the other 6%.

In a sense, the easy bit is raising the money for the facility. The hard bit is making the airfield work as an asset for the community. We would have to have a very robust business plan in place to ensure that we do not run at a loss. The objective is not for the community to run and airport but for the community to own the asset and obtain income through joint ventures etc. with professional organisations. It is envisaged that income from the facility would be channelled into a vehicle the Common Good Fund (although it would also have to benefit other communities in South Kintyre) . Some of this money could be used for traditional Common Good Fund projects as well as for example regeneration projects where large sums of money are required and are not likely to be found 100% from the public purse.

We would obtain top level help to develop a Business Plan, but examples of the type of activities are - Vestas (rental) : HIAL (to manage the terminal); Direct Golf Flights, Low-cost flights (for example Ryanair could not come here under the present set-up as the airport is owned by the government and their business model does not permit deals which would break European anti-competition laws); Distribution: Ideal for American companies looking to serve European markets - the general consensus is that Ireland which has had the lion's share of this type of activity is now a victim of it's own success); Training facility for airlines; conference centre, hotel, etc, etc and of course MOD who might want to use the runway occasionally! Some of these ideas will work and some won't but as I said, there will be help to develop this - we won't have to come up with all the answers ourselves.

Okay, so what do we have to do?

Well, breaking cover for a moment, a small group of us realised the implications of this as soon as the Land Reform Bill became law and investigated what we had to do to take this forward. The first hurdle was to convince the Land Fund that we had a legitimate claim on behalf of the community in South Kintyre. This we have done, and as was required we have set up a Steering Group to take things forward. We are currently waiting for our Constitution to be ratified and then we have to go out to the community and make the case for the buy-out. We then need around 800 signatures in favour of the proposal to give around the required 10% that the Executive need before they can put us on the Community Land Register. Once that happens we will work with the experts to develop the Business Plan and then it is a question of waiting for when/if the base comes on the market. If our Business Plan ticks all the boxes (this will include how we raise the 6%) then hopefully we will be heading towards taking the facility under community ownership.

A word of reassurance about the Steering Group - the constitution is written in such a way that as soon as is practical the Steering Group will dissolve to be replaced by a properly constituted Management Group which will be voted for by the people of South Kintyre. We felt that it was important to act quickly rather than consult with everyone first just to make sure that we got on the ladder. We have taken a gamble that the people of South Kintyre will want this opportunity and are quite confident from casual conversations with others that we will be able to obtain the number of signatures required for this. If not, well that is the fine - the will of the people and all that, but someone else will benefit at our expense.

We will be taking this idea out to the communities in the coming months or so, probably through the new Community Councils once they have had a chance to bed down, but I thought it would be something which would generate a bit of debate and maybe even controversy on the Message Board.

Let us know what you think!

Les

[Ross]

Sounds like it would be a good idea, for once the assets of this area would bring benifit to the area rather than some developer from up the road lookin to make a quick buck at our expence. With the size of population in the toon 800 signatures shouldnt be a problem.

[oorly gourlay]

Great post Les, I hope that the local journo picks up on it as it would make a great front page. When you see the Council's efforts to turn Connel Airfield (now Oban Airport) into a hub airport for the West Highlands and Islands and then look at the facilities on offer at Machrihanish you realise that Machrihanish is ready made for that use and much, much more. You have some great ideas for substantive use and long term regeneration of a grossly under used facility.
A cause worth supporting. Why should the fat cats always get the cream!

[Lel]

Well done Les for bringing this to everyones attention. This could be a great asset for the town and could bring a lot of business our way. Keep up the good work and keep everyone posted on any new developments.

[Malky]

As Lel says above, thanks for bringing this to the attention of the forum. I for one will be signing the petition when it appears

Malky

[GarySutherland]

You'd certainly get my signiture. I'm all in favour of community ownership as opposed to commercial developer.

Regards
Gary

[scotty]

If you want to start a online petition use this site

http://www.petitiononline.com

[scotty]

Vestas are paying the MOD good money for storing towers and nacelles on their land so i can see them holding on to it for a while yet

[kintyre56]

We have been here before!

[4th gen Suthen']

Bloomin' 'eck, a 5 year jump in time! dont get that very often on here! well done for bringing it up 56er

[zeus]

Think you will find the buy out in this thread is not connected to the one now being proposed