UK: REMOTE SCOTTISH ISLE OF EIGG UP FOR AUCTION

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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English/Nat A remote island in the north west of Scotland officially goes up for sale to the highest bidder on Thursday (August 22) amid a storm of controversy. The new owner will have to come up with around three (m) million U-S dollars - and the ability to win over a disgruntled community of islanders who don't want to see any radical change to their way of life. The 63 people who live on the Isle of Eigg (Pron: EGG) are lobbying to maintain control of the island themselves. But they are braced for a new owner taking over and warn any cash-rich pleasure seeker that they are determined to preserve their way of life. The Isle of Eigg looks a bleak and almost forbidding piece of rock on first sight - shrouded in clouds and tales of gloomy inhabitants. But the five by three mile stretch is a place of contrast. Its seven thousand acres have a natural beauty and simplicity that those handling its sale are sure will seduce millionaires to part with their money. That is what worries those that live here. Their simple, unharried lives could be destroyed if a new owner decides to start developing the island. Maggie Fyffe leads a band of islanders bent on trying to raise funds and gain public support for their cause. SOUNDBITE: English There are hundreds of visitors visit the island every year - the reason they come here is because it's so unspoilt and so beautiful and that's certainly what we want to keep here. We're very aware of the fact that if there's any major developments here that would spoil the whole island. SUPER CAPTION: Maggie Fyffe/ Secretary, Isle of Eigg Trust One of the chief concerns of the islanders is that few of them own the leases to their properties. They could technically be evicted by a new owner. That has created a climate of fear and instability. SOUNDBITE: English What I don't think people will be able to cope with much longer is this continued insecurity and the slow drain from the island. I personally fear that sooner or later some of the families here are going to think they'd get a better life elsewhere and more security for their children. We're not a very big community and once that starts happening then I can see the end of the community as we know it. SUPER CAPTION: John Chester/ Scottish Wildlife Trust warden The rolling landscape of Eigg is littered in parts with the twisted wreckage of cars and scrap metal. There is no scrapyard to deal with the problem and no money to provide one. APTV was shown one particularly ugly heap that lines the only road on the island. SOUNDBITE: English This is one of the many problems prospective owners are going to find themselves faced with. This is cynically called by islanders the Maruma Centre because Maruma wanted to get all scrap iron off the island, quite rightly, but he got it all gathered together from all the crofts where it was stored and placed here. And here it's stayed because no one's had the cash to remove it. SUPER CAPTION: Karen Helliwell, housewife This is the infamous Maruma. He is a German painter who bought the island just over a year ago and has only visited it twice since then, for two days each time. His tenure greatly riles the inhabitants because they say he made all sorts of promises to invest money on the island which he did not keep. The previous owner lasted 20 years but he also did little to endear himself to the people of Eigg. The English former Olympic bobsleigh champion Keith Schellenberg was accused of not keeping promises and being an absentee landlord. The main house on the island is surrounded by palms and looks beautiful, but it lies empty and deserted - awaiting its new occupant with trepidation. SOUNDBITE: English You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/38e3a49ea7686f45246c34995fbf1a08 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork