Community ownership for affordable housing, local jobs, sustaining land and community
Story of Tayvallich Initiative
Tayvallich Initiative (TI) was established in 2022 when the majority of the Tayvallich Estate, which covers around 3,500 acres (1,368ha) of the peninsula, was put up for sale, and was subsequently sold to Highlands Rewilding Ltd in 2023.
Members of the local community came together to discuss the response to an initial consultation which demonstrated concern for affordable housing, local jobs, nature and environment, renewables, and opportunities for young people to live and work in the area. This led to looking at options for community-land ownership and an application for a Scottish Land Fund award.
Tayvallich Initiative (a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status) was formed to take forward the management of land and housing that was gifted to the community and to purchase further land and housing for community ownership.
TI was created with a driving ambition to create a more sustainable future for the village and across the peninsula.
Community-Land Ownership
Community-land ownership provides opportunities to improve provision of housing, to work on sustainable development and to manage community land including the historic Atlantic rainforest. Renewable energy is also a key area of interest and development.
In 2023 Tayvallich Initiative negotiated and signed a wide-reaching ground-breaking Memorandum of Understanding between neighbouring landowners Highlands Rewilding Ltd and Tayvallich Initiative which helps facilitate cooperation in pursuit of our common goals of nature restoration, community prosperity and repopulation”. The Memorandum of Understanding can be viewed below:
Additional housing for affordable rent, or plots for house-building with a rural housing burden attached, would attract more families to help the area to thrive. A rural housing burden includes a provision that a property has to be the primary residence of those living there, thus helping to repopulate the area with long-term residents. As a Rural Housing Body, TI can oversee rural housing burdens that are applied to properties.
Our journey
TI were gifted parcels of land and also received an award from the Scottish Land Fund which enabled the purchase of further land from Highlands Rewilding. TI has guardianship of the following land:
- Cnoc Leis and wetlands;
- Polldearg, including Taigh Eairdsidh;
- Mary McDougall bequest;
- Turbiskill, including Turbiskill Farmhouse and Turbiskill land.
The majority of Cnoc Leis and the Turbiskill Land are within designated sites of nature conservation importance, and this will be a key factor influencing management and activities on them. More information on our plans for the land can be found here.
Following community consultation Polldearg has been selected as the site most suitable for development of housing. More information on our housing plans and developments can be found here.
The land gifted via the Mary MacDougall bequest is the focus for community growing including a community orchard. It has also been identified as having potential for solar photovoltaic generation, and options for this are being explored by the Renewables Working Group.