Assynt Development Trust Limited buys land under the The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen building in Lochinver from Highland Council for just £1
While the Assynt Development Trust owns the former Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen building in Lochinver it did not own the ground on which it stood.
It was rented from Highland Council for a peppercorn yearly rent of £1 with a long term 50-year lease.
However, last month Highland Councillors agreed to the Community Asset Transfer request from the trust to sell the land for £1.
Trust chairman Willie Jack said: "Despite the 50 year lease, that was very affordable at £1 a year, we still had to ask the council for any changes we wanted to make.
"We’ll still have to apply to planning of course but now the community can decide how it wants to run things without having to gain consent from the local authority all the time.
"Because the council is based in Inverness local people are better able to make decisions for our local and community assets here.”
He said that if the lease had run for the remaining 40 years once it had finished the council would then effectively own the building. He said: "Effectively we are doing it for the betterment of the local community. The feeling is good because local people control the future of the site rather than Highland Council having a say."
Mr Jack said they were planning to keep using the building as it was but there might be an option to make better use of the available space at some point in the future.
The building opened in 1968 and provided financial, emotional and pastoral support to fishermen and their families.
When The Mission closed in 2009, the local community raised £600,000 from the National Lottery and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to buy and refurbish the building, creating a community-owned café and 14-bed bunkhouse, with offices currently occupied by the trust, Connect Assynt, and the High Life Highland countryside ranger.
Since 2015 the café and bunkhouse, known as An Cala, has been run by Julia and Jason Wilson who employ up to 10 people.
