Arran Community Benefit Society – Public Meeting Update
Following development of the idea through the Arran Island Plan and subsequent meetings, a group of islanders held a public meeting on Wednesday November 26th to explore establishing an island-wide Community Benefit Society.
23 people attended to hear from a representative of North Arran CBS about their experience acquiring the Lochranza Country Inn, and to discuss potential priorities for an Arran CBS. A quick survey of attendees showed affordable housing as the clear top priority, with community ownership of derelict buildings second.
Some attendees suggested starting with a Local Place Plan – comprehensive door-to-door engagement to identify what housing and assets are needed across the island. It was proposed this be done in collaboration with Arran Community Council and village associations, with the CBS providing capacity and legal structure to support the work.
Five founding members have expressed interest so far. If you’d like to get involved or learn more, contact arrancbs@gmail.com, or join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/arrancbs
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What’s a Community Benefit Society?
In short it’s a cooperative model where every member gets on vote, regardless of how many shares they own. It’s registered and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with additional oversight depending on activities (such as OSCR for charitable CBS).
Community Benefit Societies across Scotland own village halls, develop affordable housing, run community enterprises, and coordinate local services. They provide the legal framework to turn community priorities into action. There are currently 4 registered in Arran, one of which acquired the Lochranza Country Inn, and three more in various stages of progress – one for renewable energy with a proposed solar farm in Lamlash (f. 2021), one for Woodland Crofting assessing feasibility of a pilot project in Brodick (f. 2023 – see this issue of the Voice), and one in Whiting Bay with it’s first project to purchase the Whiting Bay Hotel (previously Cooriedoon) (f. 2025)
Why Arran Needs This Now
The Island Plan has identified priorities across environment, economy, and community. But there’s no democratic structure to implement them or manage shared resources across organisations and villages.
Current decision-making happens in committee meetings during working hours. Not everyone can attend and not everyone’s voice gets heard.
A CBS can help to change that. Members can vote from home – from an armchair on a phone app if needed. Parents with young families who can’t go to Brodick Hall in the evening. Shift workers. People with caring responsibilities. Everyone gets an equal say.
A Democratic Voice for Island Priorities
A CBS with broad membership gives islanders a recognised democratic platform. When 250 members vote on a priority, that carries weight with councils, funders and agencies in a way that scattered Facebook comments, small committee decisions or post-it notes from consultations don’t. Rather than saying “some people on Facebook think…” or “the committee decided” we could be saying “the community voted 187 to 63 to prioritise X over Y.”
This doesn’t replace the Community Council’s statutory consultation role – it complements it by providing a formal mechanism for implementing what consultations identify.
Democratic Governance, not Bureaucracy
The board handles day-to-day operations, but major strategic decisions – budgets, priorities, significant spending, Objects – can be put to member votes. That’s what makes it democratic. We want to design Arran CBS so members control the big decisions through regular polling and consultation, not committees behind closed doors. The board implements what members decide.
A CBS could enable projects of any scale – from coordinating small repairs to acquiring major assets. The key is members vote democratically on priorities.
Who’s This For?
Everyone. Permanent residents can be voting members. Business and organisations can participate. Supporters from off-island can invest.
But voting power stays with islanders. One member, one vote ensures democratic control.