The Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing, and Planning Committee chose Millport to showcase key examples of community wealth building in North Ayrshire. Ariane Burgess MSP, the convener of the Scottish Parliament’s committee, said: "We've come to Millport because North Ayrshire Council thought this would be the best example for us to understand community wealth building.''
Community Wealth Building is a people-centred approach to local economic development which places control of assets and resources into the hands of the local community. Community wealth building is about ensuring that the wealth that is created locally stays locally.
The group visited Millport townhall, a building once owned by the Council and subsequently put back into the hands of the community. They were taken on a tour of the hall, which is being retrofitted and will open again next year, after its closure in 2015.
The committee then chose to visit the distillery, and here's what they had to say: ‘’Isle of Cumbrae Distillers is an amazing project that's been set up by women. Their impulse was about creating something that would employ people and create economic regeneration for the community. It is really a wonderful space to go into. And they're not just stopping at making gin, they're also looking at how they can include other people into the mix and use their gin as the attraction to the island.''
The last visit was to Jack’s Altstays, the five amazing accommodation pods owned by Daniel and Adam Jack. “They offer other things like a breakfast packs for people and the breakfast packs are prepared by other businesses on the island. So that's bringing in wealth to other business in the economy. They've really had an impact economically in the community, because they're bringing lots of other businesses along with their success.”
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