Harbour to launch Community Share offer

Community Shares Scotland and the Portpatrick Harbour team have been working closely together in recent months to develop a Community Share offer to help bring the harbour into community ownership.

The Portpatrick Harbour Community Benefit Society committee will be reaching out to local people and interested parties to get behind the offer, by registering their interest and pledging to become investors – ahead of the Community Share offer launch later this summer. The target for investment is £75,000 for monies needed to make the harbour project possible.

Working closely with the Community Shares Scotland team, Calum Currie, chair of the new Community Benefit Society, said:

"We are reaching a real landmark stage and the excitement is really building locally. We have worked hard to explore different ways of approaching the community harbour project and it will mean a lot to gain recognition as the first Scottish Community Benefit Society with charitable status seeking to raise a Community Share offer.

"The main aim of the project is to secure the integrity and appearance of the historic harbour of Portpatrick for the benefit of the community and all who love and visit it."

The ambitious community ownership plan to regenerate Portpatrick Harbour was given a boost recently with Lifeboat Week.

Community Shares refers to the sale of shares in enterprises serving a community purpose. Community shareholders invest in local enterprises providing goods and services that meet local needs and, in turn, the enterprise is controlled and governed by the community it serves.

You can find out more on the Community Shares Scotland website.