The sleepy island of Ulva in the Scottish Hebrides is currently home to just six residents – but, after an appeal, its population could be about to increase by 6,000%.
The beautiful 4,500-acre island was bought out by locals in June 2018 as part of a publicly-funded take-over. Their campaign managed to crowdfund an impressive £37,000, as well as securing £4.4m in funds from the Scottish Land Fund.
With the island previously in a state of social and economic decline, the campaign's main objective was to repopulate the island and give it a new lease of life. The locals put out an appeal for people to move to the island and they set plans in motion to regenerate agriculture by introducing a herd of cattle. They also plan to grow wildflowers to attract more wildlife.
So far, 350 people have registered their interest in moving to Ulva which would make the population 60 times the size it is now. More info on registering interest can be found here.
As part of the campaign, some of the suggested careers for applicants include:
- Joiners
- Roofers
- Crofters
- Tour guides
- Foresters
Jamie Howard, who has owned the island for the past 70 years, left Ulva after disagreeing with the sale that took place in June last year. His grandmother purchased the island for £10,000 back in the 1940s, but Jamie explained that the community would "struggle" to repopulate
Situated off the west coast of Mull, the picture-perfect island is famously known for inspiring Sir Walter Scott, Beatrix Potter and Dr Livingstone. While there currently isn't much life — or much to do — it's certainly as pretty as can be.
"There has been a gratifying amount of interest from people wishing to make their homes on Ulva and everyone has been added to a list and will be contacted when we are ready to move to the formal application stage,” the North West Mull Community Woodland Community, the company representing the islanders says to The Independent.
"It does need to be clearly stated that this will not be very soon."
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