This week’s celebrations of community ownership, in Lochaber and across Scotland, point to a success story for a country in which, per the 2014 Land Reform Report, 432 private land owners own 50 per cent of the nation. Whilst not every community project succeeds in equal measure, the likes of the Knoydart Foundation, Raasay Community Renewables, and Storas Uibhist give residents a say. Moreover, the concept of community ownership sends an important message of fairness in a world that can appear imbalanced.
Fairness is also what people desire from mechanisms such as ‘levelling up’, the secretary and under secretary of which recently attended the Islands Forum. Connectivity was the main discussion, but the islands and West Coast in general are still calling for wider infrastructure investment. It was this notion of fairness that prompted the Lochaber Times and The Oban Times to run the Invest in the West campaign, which has been shortlisted for the 2023 Making a Difference Award. The chat coming out of the Islands Forum is promising, but the Highland Council is correct in that it must lead to action.
And so to CalMac, which has amended its route prioritisation framework after a horrendous start to the year when entire communities were protesting about a lack of fairness. Credit must be given to the company for its efforts to find a better balance, although the people of Campbeltown, Ardrossan, Armadale and Mallaig may have strong opinions on the new plans. What can be said, however, is that fairness is fundamental to happier communities.