Urras Oighreachd Ghabsainn

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One of the key components of the feasibility study is the collating of a range of development options though a process of community consultation. The consultation was undertaken in conjunction with the Galson Estate Community Steering Group and built on the meetings and consultation that had already been undertaken by the Group.

Following the public meetings held by the Steering Group, individual meetings were held with the majority of the businesses located within the estate boundary. Generally these meetings revealed a positive attitude to community ownership if this could deliver improved facilities and more business activity, provided that this was not in competition to existing business.

All grazing clerks within the area were contacted and invited to give their thoughts on development options and an open meeting was held with the Ness General Clerks. Information was also published in the local newspaper, Fios, on the subject of the feasibility study and identifying development options. This generated a good level of interest and generated a number of detailed responses both in relation to the windfarm but also in proposing a number of development options..

One of the most notable concerns within the Galson community is outward migration, especially of the younger population. The Dell and Port of Ness area has seen a decline in population of 17.5% between 1991 and 2001 and the common theme throughout Galson is that of an ageing and decreasing population. This is typified in the Ness area, which has experienced the greatest decline in population in Lewis.

Of key importance to regenerating communities is to reverse this drain on the younger generations and seek to build a more balanced community structure. With this will be brought new ideas and energies which will sustain existing economic and social activity and provide the entrepreneurial spirit to exploit new opportunities 

In common with many rural areas, access to housing is now a significant problem and is thought to be one of the major drivers of the demographic changes. In the Galson area, once younger people finish school, they often work in Stornoway and have the option of commuting or living in Stornoway. The high cost of construction on the Island as well as the recent boom in the property market have resulted in few being able to afford to buy or build. Property values in Stornoway are reported to have increased by 40% since 2001 and construction costs are between 30 – 40% higher in Lewis than they are in Inverness. There is a lack of property to rent in the Galson area and young people are often forced to move into Stornoway to rent after moving out of the family home.

Provision of affordable housing can be achieved in a number of ways:

To achieve balance it is likely that a combination of the three approaches over time is likely to be most desirable, although the impact of the two ownership options can be limited to the ownership period of the first owner.

The major impact on the viability of the Estate of pro-actively releasing housing land will be secondary. There will obviously be some impact in terms of cash flow from site sales, but the greater impact would be through the enhanced economic activity arising from the downstream benefits of population growth. Short term there would also be a gain from increased construction activity. Dependant on the structure of ownership there may be opportunity for a community body to deliver rented affordable housing which could contribute significantly to the performance of the Estate.

This issue is seen as critical to the future of the estate and community and it is recommended that if the community purchase of the Estate proceeds, consideration be given to the preparation of a pro-active estate housing strategy to address:

3.2  Commercial opportunities

The range of businesses operating within the Galson Estate currently includes:

This is a significant range of businesses and as indicated in the earlier preliminary study, there appears to be a willingness in the community to exploit commercial opportunities.

Discussions with the community suggested that there would be opportunities for the creation of more commercial opportunities, the majority of suggestions centring round tourism related opportunities. Further analysis of tourism related activities will be included in section 3.??.

Aside from developing tourism, identifiable demand for particular commercial opportunities was limited.  Some discussion identified a possible demand for light industrial premises or offices although this was perceived as speculative with no tenants identified. Overall the impression is that there is interest in commercial opportunities, but that the community is reasonably well supplied at present and there are no initiatives that are being actively constrained under the present management regime.

As with housing, the Estate do not own any built assets that the community will be able to develop to encourage commerce. The community ownership role is likely therefore to concentrate on the facilitation of opportunities though the pro-active delivery of development sites and packages of funding. As has been experienced in other regeneration projects, there while there may not be a latent demand for commercial opportunities that can be specifically identified at this stage, when a ‘product’ can be put together i.e. an actual site, with planning permission, with a funding package, then it is possible to market this which stimulates an interest in investment.

This could take a number of approaches:

The key point is to develop opportunities, which can act as a catalyst to allow enterprise to start up. This is a pro-active process that would have to be intensively managed to ensure success.

The direct contribution to the viability of the Estate from commercial opportunities will be limited. As with the housing, suitable assets are not currently owned. Ownership would however allow opportunities to be created for wider benefits.

In light of the non-specific interest in commercial premises, direct speculative investment by the Estate in buildings for rent would be a high-risk strategy and not one that could be recommended in the early stages of Estate ownership.

As an example, the Galson Schoolhouse has the potential to be developed into a small office unit. The capital costs in renovating this property into office space would be in the region of £20 – 30,000 (subject to no major external repairs) which is a high capital investment in light of the risk that it may not be re-let. The only comparable for office space in the area is the Linox Centre and recently, demand for this office space has been very limited.

Such an investment could only be recommended if a tenant were identified in advance and a lease of sufficient duration agreed to generate an acceptable rate of return. If this can be achieved however and an investment appraisal indicates an acceptable rate of return including finance costs and net of grants then commercial premises on longer leases can build good levels of stability into an Estate rental portfolio, as generally commercial leases are for longer terms than houses leases and subject to fewer changes in tenants.

3.3  Sporting

Community discussions have revealed numerous suggestions that the sporting potential on the estate is undervalued and not utilised to its full extent. In the past, there has been limited grouse and wild game shooting, deer stalking and trout fishing.

As there are grouse on Galson, there is limited scope for increasing the numbers through active moor management including heather burning. This is labour intensive and being a wild bird there are no guarantees that it would bring in more grouse. There are also potential problems with carrying out some management practices in light of the environmental designations and possible conflicts with the agricultural use of the land.

Grouse shooting can on the face of it look quite attractive financially. A brace of driven grouse sells of around £100-£120 and a brace walked up will cost £50 - £70. There are no records for grouse shot on Galson, but inevitably it will be at the lower end of performance, red grouse being less productive in the west as a result of lower chick recruitment and poorer heather production.

If it was assumed that a single keeper/stalker were employed to mange the grouse/deer and spent half of their time on managing the grouse then it would be realistic to expect an annual cost of say £12,000 could be attributed to grouse production. At this level of expenditure the moor would have to produce around 200 brace walked up annually (over say 8 days shooting) to cover its costs. This level of production is not thought to be feasible. The main period for grouse shooting is August to October.

Using a similar scenario for deer stalking, i.e. the keeper/stalker spending half of their time on deer management, to cover the costs of employment etc. would need an annual cull of around 35 stags (letting at £275/head) plus some hind stalking (which lets on a day rate).  The majority of stag stalking takes place in September and October. Against a background of no cull records and the DCS view of limited populations this would appear to be unrealistic. There is likely to be some capacity to increase the deer population (which may however bring it into conflict with crofting interests) but given the nature of the vegetation and terrain this is unlikely to be at a level justify a large sustainable cull.

There is some potential for rough shooting and wildfowling, but again this is likely to be low key utilising the wild resource in a way that is compatible with the environmental designations and other land uses. Rough shooting with an expectation of a reasonable bag (say 10 head per gun) would let for in the region of £100 per gun per day. Rough shooting would take place in September to January.

The fishings in the Hebrides rank among some of the best in the world. It is estimated that 7,500 game anglers (4.6% of all visitors) visited the Western Isles in 1999, spending approximately £3.98 million. While Galson does not have access to the more lucrative migratory fisheries as are found further south in Lewis and Harris, studies have shown that 60% of the angler spend in the Western Isles is attributed to trout fishing, which Galson does have. There is evidence that in the past Galson did have reasonable runs of salmon in the North Galson and Borve rivers but it is understood that these catches have declined substantially.

In exploiting the fisheries, Galson is in competition with better know areas and will therefore have to actively market the product to ensure it is utilised. One of the major barriers to a greater uptake in fishing is difficult access to fishings, both in terms of knowledge about them and the ease with which permits can be purchased. Wild trout fishing in the north and west is typically a low value product and the value to the economy is delivered through the additional spend an angler makes on accommodation, food, guides/instructors, etc.

A strategy for angling at Galson should concentrate on making the links between angling and other services to make angling easy and accessible and can be done on an estate level or at a regional scale that the estate may be able to tap into (see for example www.castag.co.uk the web site for the Caithness and Sutherland Angling Group).

Overall the contribution of sportings to the viability of the Estate will be relatively limited. The natural asset has modest potential and the even in the most productive of settings, sportings while having the capacity to generate substantial income are very costly to run and seldom generate more than marginal profits at best. In the context of community ownership while it may be desirable to generate economic activity and employment opportunities, it is not recommended that an enterprise as variable as sporting is an appropriate vehicle for this, as it will not contribute to financial stability.

That said there is an opportunity to enhance the activity in this area, and building on the role of the Estate acting as a facilitator there is an opening for the Estate to lease low key sporting rights, say as a whole, to a local operator who will manage and re-let the sportings (daily or weekly), possibly in conjunction with accommodation and guiding services. The Estate may be able to offer support in administration of lettings, corporate marketing, etc.

In this way, building up levels of activity (the range of sporting could cover a full year) together could have the capacity to generate a viable entity. Leasing the rights to a third party will reduce the Estate business exposure to potential losses and the small annual rental would add to the basic stability of the business with little associated cost.

Longer term the Estate may wish to investigate both habitat improvement and re-stocking of the migratory fisheries but the latter of these options can be very expensive and unreliable and if embarked on should be done so gradually to ensure that the expenditure does not undermine the business viability in the early years. Cooperation in some instances with a local angling society can be a cost effective route to river enhancement. Full co-operation with the Western Isles Fisheries Trust is recommended.

3.4  Environmental

The presence of a number of environmental and landscape designations and the ecological uniqueness of Galson could used as a marketing focus to draw visitors in to the area.

The benefits would accrue to the Estate, through enhanced tourism potential (benefiting accommodation, visitor attractions, etc.). Tourism is dealt with in more detail in section 3.5. Directly relating to eco-tourism, there could be an opportunity, perhaps linked to a low key sporting enterprise, to provide a guiding service to visitors interested in seeing and learning more about the local wildlife and environment. This would be a largely service based activity, exploiting a local individuals knowledge of the area, it’s environment and it’s history.

Direct income from the land for environmental management will, in the main, be due to the land occupier, i.e. the crofters, rather than the Estate. This would apply to the Scottish Executive agri-environmental schemes, being delivered through mechanisms such as the Rural Stewardship Scheme and probably in the future through an entry level environmental scheme under a wider system of land management contracts. Land occupiers could be encouraged to enter these schemes to enhance the attractiveness of the area and facilitate access to sites for visitors, where this can be done without causing damage/disturbance to sensitive species.

More specific to Galson, there may be opportunities to participate in pro-active management of the designated sites, through management agreements. In the majority of instances, these benefits will again accrue to the land occupier, although there may be some benefit to the Estate, e.g. through participation in The Lewis Peatlands Management Scheme (although this is first dependant on the land occupier entering the scheme and is paid at 50% of the occupiers payment rates). Discussions with SNH may reveal opportunities for enhanced management of the SAC, SPA and SSSI areas and a dialogue should be entered with them to explore this.

3.5  Tourism

Tourism is a very important component of the Western Isles economy. The volume of tourism in the western Isles grew by 5.5% between 1999 and 2002 and the value of tourism expenditure has increased by 28.4% during this same period. The growth is shown in table 3.1.
 

Within the annual figures, there is an obvious peak period within the summer months however trends show an extension of the season with an increase in visitors during March and October. The months of July and August account for 38% of the total arrivals with Stornoway being the most popular point of entry. Out of 194,567 passenger arrivals into the Western Isles between March and October 2002, an estimated 151,590 were visitors. The overall spend of visitors in 2002 was estimated at £39.3m.

Key findings identified within a study commissioned by Western Isles Tourist Board in 2002 indicated that almost half the visitors to the Western Isles were repeat visitors, 79% being from within the UK. The average length of stay is 8.8 days with private vehicle and air travel both increasing in recent years. Internet booking has become increasingly important, especially amongst overseas visitors. Expenditure per person per day has increased from £38.10 in 2002 to £40.48 in 2003. Activities undertaking whilst visiting the western Isles were, in order of priority / popularity:

There has been a shift in accommodation demand towards self catering at the expense of Bed & Breakfast accommodation. The overall occupancy rates of self catering units in the Western Isles is very high in comparison to Bed & Breakfast which have experienced a continued decline in room occupancy. The main reason for this is people’s desire to have more flexibility. Demand for accommodation is concentrated during weekdays, dropping sharply at the weekend. Average length of stay in each island within the Western Isles has decreased as more people are inclined to ‘island hop’.

In relation to the Galson area, although the Western Isles Tourist Board believes that there is enough accommodation to meet demand, there is a particular shortage of self catering units as well as Bed & Breakfasts in certain locations throughout the island.

Galson is relatively popular largely as a result of visitors travelling up to the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse, which is as one of the island’s most visited attractions. With this increasing visitor trend on the island, it is important that tourist facilities and attractions are managed a way which will hold these visitors in the Galson area, to maximise the benefit to the area.

 Galson has a number of recognised visitor attractions and facilities and these include:

To further encourage tourism, there is a need for a focal point and within Galson Estate, this has already been identified as the Butt of Lewis. There is a requirement to ‘hold’ these visitors and this can be done through promoting existing attractions and developing facilities/attractions in a way that will enhance the visitor experience without jeopardizing the natural scenery, which attracts many visitors to the area in the first place. There is an increasing focus towards live interpretation and developing natural resources for visitors, as opposed to building visitor centres and other developments that require high capitals costs.

There has been a considerable amount of work put into developing ideas for tourist related activities in the Galson area in recent years, largely focused around the Ness area of the Estate. The development options include:

The majority of these proposals would bring benefit to the Ness/Galson area through increased visitor traffic and extended visitor stays. Both of these will provide enhanced benefits for the existing businesses in the area and create new opportunities for business start up.

Tourism activity is therefore key to the development of the Galson community. Whether a community purchase would enhance these options has to be examined in more detail. With the right attitude now there are few of the developments on the list above that could not be successfully carried out now.

The Estate provides a land resource, but no built assets. Community ownership would free any existing constraints on the use of the land, but these appear to be very few. Ownership may allow a more pro-active approach to making available land for development of facilities. Substantial changes in the land use would however remain constrained by the crofting tenure and the Estate would still be limited in the additional rights that could be promoted to enhance tourism developments.

The two greatest benefits that are likely to accrue under community ownership are firstly, the ability of the community to develop a collective marketing approach that can promote Galson Estate as a whole entity and secondly, the creation of an attitude that empowers people to see opportunities.

Neither of these benefits will however directly add to the viability of the estate business. This will only occur if the estate business were to develop some of these enterprises in hand or were, as required, to lease sites to a third party to develop. The first of these options may result in a higher return but would expose the Estate to greater risk. The second would have the converse effect and would have lower returns but be more stable.

Overall, the greatest benefit to the tourism enterprises would be the ability to pro-actively support the development of tourism facilities occurring on the Estate, but on assets not necessarily owned by the Estate.

3.6  Agriculture & Aquaculture

The options for the Estate to become directly involved in agriculture are limited, all the land being subjected to crofting. The options for adding to viability of the Estate through this are therefore few, although there may be opportunities in the Estate supporting traditional crofting practices, particularly with links to the natural heritage and cultural tourism.

Longer term, against a background of reform to the Common Agricultural Policy, strategies should be developed for building closer connections between the agricultural producer and the market. The Estate may be in a position to play a central role in such initiatives for collective branding and marketing of produce, both for local consumption, for sale to and in conjunction with tourism enterprises and further afield to target markets.

Such initiatives would apply to markets such as ‘Galson Estate Lamb’ or the growing of organic vegetables or soft fruits. The success of such enterprises would however depend entirely on the willingness of the crofting community to participate with the Estate taking the lead in the overall administration and marketing.

Aquaculture in the Western Isles has been in general decline, particularly in relation to employment levels, as with much of the west coast. The eastern shoreline of the island does not lend itself to sheltered sea farm sites although there may be some potential in freshwater lochs although the demand is not significant at the current time, although there may be opportunities that can be exploited from time to time.

3.7  Forestry

The environmental status of the land, remoteness in relation to timber markets and the long term decline in timber values all confirm the view that planting of forestry as a commercial opportunity is not desirable.

Planting of native woodland is an option and under the Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme can be attractive financially if planned on a sufficiently large scale. The benefits accruing to the Estate would however be financially minimal, again due to the crofting tenure. Individual crofters and grazing committees would be eligible to apply for the grants and obviously the benefits would accrue to the individuals rather than the Estate.

Similar constraints would apply exploring the options for alternative forest products such as biomass production for heat or power generation.

3.8  Renewable Energy

Whilst the current windfarm proposals are excluded from this study, there are a number of options for renewable energy that could be pursued instead of or alongside a windfarm development.

This could include:

In assessing the preferred development options the key criteria used has been whether the option will add to the viability of the existing business. In this context viability has been taken to be a sustained improvement of the cash flow of the business combined with an improved balance sheet.

While a number of the options investigated would contribute greatly to the level of economic and social activity in the community there would be no direct impact on the viability of the Estate business, although they may create more opportunities for the Estate. Those options that contribute to the wider community/economic benefit would have to be assessed against a separate set of criteria to establish their value and if run through the Estate would require to be self funded.

The prioritised options chosen will therefore contribute directly to the Estate business in a way that strengthens it allowing a gradual building up of activity.

After consultation with the Galson Trust the following options were determined as the most advantageous:

More detailed consideration of the prioritised development options and the potential contribution that they make to the Estate viability is given in section 4.3.

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