Windfall helps to buy old toll site
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A £68,000 windfall which will help fund a community buy-out in Kyle of Lochalsh has been welcomed by the local MSP.
Kyle and Lochalsh Community Trust has been awarded £67,240 from the Scottish Land Fund, which will be used towards the purchase of the former Skye Bridge Toll Office building and the adjacent 80 acres known as The Plock of Kyle.
Kate Forbes said: "Land is so often a barrier to community potential, so I’m pleased that Kyle and Lochalsh Community Trust are one step closer to using the toll office for community benefit. There is huge potential for Kyle, particularly as it’s a community that has sometimes felt left-behind or sandwiched in between land and sea.
"The Trust has been doing some really great things and I hope that this latest move will be for the benefit of the whole community."
The cash boost comes in the same week that a community on neighbouring Skye received £231,700 from the Fund.
The Staffin Community Development Trust will use the cash to buy land for six affordable homes, two business units and a store.
The news comes as Ms Forbes prepares to welcome Scotland’s housing minister to the area next week to discuss the need for more housing for local residents in the region.
She invited Kevin Stewart to visit in response to long running concerns that a lack of affordable housing is pricing Highland residents out of the market.
"Housing has been repeated again and again on my constituency tour as an issue of major concern locally.
"That is why I invited the housing minister to my constituency to see the problem for himself and meet with people to discuss solutions," she added.
