Kinloch Castle Study: Final report

Round 2 results

This section sets out the Round 2 results in full.

Conditions of sale

Question 3 provided an explanation of what could be included as part of each potential condition of sale (see Box 2), and asked: ‘At this stage, is there anything else you would like to include as part of any condition?’

The first question of the survey focused on conditions of sale. It stated that in Round 1, respondents were broadly supportive of the list provided, and included an explanation of what could be included as part of each potential condition (see Box 2).

We asked respondents if there was anything else they would like to include as part of any condition at this stage. A total of 8 respondents answered this question. The points they raised are summarised below, in relation to the relevant condition.

Redevelopment of the castle building

• One respondent said it is ‘important’ that the castle is ‘developed to some sort of standard, either private or public/commercial use’, and that in their view, costs and funding sources could ‘remain private’ if the buyer prefers, unless from a public source.

Maintain use of access road and access rights (front of castle)

• One respondent felt that conditions 2. Maintain use of access road; and 3. Access rights; front of castle are ‘vital’, as ‘if the castle ever was to be sold there would need to be total access for the people and visitors of Rum’;
• One respondent stated that islanders should be given the opportunity to acquire ownership of the road, rather than just rights to it;
• Two respondents noted that use of the access road would not necessarily be required, as there is a shore road that can be used. In addition, a new road was previously proposed. One stated that ‘a level of privacy is understandable’;
• A different respondent said that condition 3 (Access rights; front of castle) would depend ‘on the scope of castle upgrades’: for example, if ‘the fields adjacent are to be put back into heritage gardens, then it is understandable to either restrict access, or have paid access to the gardens as a source of income.’

Contribution to enhancing nature on Rum, promotion and encouragement of its enjoyment, and interest in the island

• Two respondents said this condition should reference the need to minimise light pollution to reduce its impact on the seabird population of Manx shearwaters;
• However, another said that they ‘don't understand the need for dark sky island status as Mallaig can always be seen and it is a working pier, the other side of Rum is ideal.’

Minimising the carbon footprint and environmental impact from the use of the castle

• One respondent said there should not be ‘too much emphasis’ on this condition, which is ‘practically unrealistic’: ‘Any building project on Rum is not environmentally friendly, from the transport of materials to a port, then ships to carry to Rum.’

Long-term commitment to conditions of sale

• One respondent commented: ‘This has to be an adaptable working model of conditions, which are not set in stone. The conditions set now, could be completely different to what the future community on Rum in 10/20 years like.’

Further points

In addition, three respondents made further points. Whilst one commented on the need to ‘reinforce’ that all conditions are adhered to, another noted that flexibility of conditions was important:

The conditions needs to be flexible. It's a negotiation. Concessions need to be made to support a sale. The community needs a functioning castle to secure the long term future of the island. This is to support infrastructure like electric and road related costs.

This reflects the point made above on keeping the conditions adaptable to changing community views. The third respondent stated: ‘Buildings don't seem to be included in this list. I feel we need to be given opportunity to own them too’. Question 14 explored respondents’ view on this.

Box 2. Explanation of each potential condition of sale

1. Redevelopment of the castle building

• Details of planned restoration, development and future use; costs of work and source of funding
• Long term maintenance plan
• Preservation of the collection
• Plan for public access

2. Maintain use of access road

• Islanders and visitors can continue to use access road in front of the castle

3. Access rights (front of castle)

• Islanders and visitors have access to the public areas in front of the castle

4. Active community involvement

• Active contribution to the community and minimal impact on local businesses
• Recognition of islanders as key stakeholders in the future use of the castle
• Regular, two-way communication between buyer and islanders during and after sale
• Community input sought and acted upon in redevelopment decisions

5. Contribution to the sustainability of the Rum community

• Any future use of the castle to be sympathetic to daily life on the island
• Appraisal of economic benefits from proposed use of castle (e.g. jobs, tourism)
• Details of proposed public access to building
• Inclusion of a visitor /heritage / educational facility in the castle grounds
• Wider island community and businesses agree to conditions (e.g. environmental impacts)

6. Contribution to enhancing nature on Rum, promotion and encouragement of its enjoyment, and interest in the island

• Support for the island’s Dark Sky Reserve status application and compliance with any measures put in place as part of this process (e.g. no external lighting to minimise light pollution)
• To take into consideration other activities that take place on the island

7. Minimising the carbon footprint and environmental impact from the use of the castle

• Promoting sustainable use of the island and its natural resources
• A plan to use renewable energy sources during redevelopment and future operations, and assessment of impact on wider island supply
• A commitment to support improvement of the current hydro system
• A commitment to minimise the environmental impact of any redevelopment or building and ongoing maintainance work

8. Long-term commitment to conditions of sale

• Burden to be added to Kinloch Castle title deeds - in the event of a further sale, these conditions of sale should be met

9. Adherence to the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement

• The current statement has seven principles: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-land-rights-responsibilities-statement-2022/pages/3/

10. Castle ownership

• Detail on ownership model

Question 4 asked: ‘Please rate the importance of each condition of sale on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being ‘Not at all important’ and 10 being ‘Very important’’

This question aimed to understand what the most important conditions of sale are to islanders. We asked respondents to rate the importance of each condition on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being ‘Not at all important’ and 10 being ‘Very important’. The average score given to each condition, in order of importance, was as follows:^[20]

• Contribution to the sustainability of the Rum community (8.1)
• Adherence to the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement (7.9)
• Contribution to enhancing nature on Rum, promotion and encouragement of its enjoyment, and interest in the island (7.7)
• Long-term commitment to conditions of sale (7.7)
• Active community involvement (7.3)
• Maintain use of access road (7.3)
• Access rights (front of castle) (7.2)
• Minimising the carbon footprint and environmental impact from the use of the castle (7)
• Castle ownership (detail on ownership model) (6.5)
• Redevelopment of the castle building (6.3)

Levels of consensus, or the extent to which islanders gave each condition a similar score, varied from 19-81%. The conditions with the highest levels of consensus were also four with some of the highest average scores, as listed above:

• Contribution to the sustainability of the Rum community (81%)
• Adherence to the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement (81%)
• Contribution to enhancing nature on Rum, promotion and encouragement of its enjoyment, and interest in the island (75%)
• Long-term commitment to conditions of sale (75%)

As noted above, there is no standard rule on defining consensus within Delphi studies, and in this report we define consensus as 50% agreement and above.

The Table on the following page sets out the full results to Question 4 in terms of mean, median and mode. We have calculated consensus against the mean.

Question 5 asked: ‘If only 3 conditions of sale could be included, which ones do you think are the most important?’

This question asked respondents to prioritise potential conditions of sale, by identifying the 3 which they think are the most important. Figure 5 shows the conditions by importance, in terms of the percentage (%) of respondents who selected each as one of their choices.^[24] The most important conditions, selected by over a third (38%) of respondents were:

• Access rights (front of castle)
• Contribution to the sustainability of the Rum community

Four conditions were selected by one in three (31%) respondents:

• Redevelopment of the castle building
• Active community involvement
• Minimising the carbon footprint and environmental impact from the use of the castle
• Adherence to the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement

One condition was selected by a quarter (25%) of respondents:

• Contribution to enhancing nature on Rum, promotion and encouragement of its enjoyment, and interest in the island.

We asked respondents to prioritise potential conditions of sale, by identifying the 3 which they think are the most important. The results, in terms of the percentage of respondents who selected each as one of their choices, were:

• Access rights (front of castle) (38%)
• Contribution to the sustainability of the Rum community (38%)
• Adherence to the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement (31%)
• Minimising the carbon footprint and environmental impact from the use of the castle (31%)
• Active community involvement (31%)
• Redevelopment of the castle building (31%)
• Contribution to enhancing nature on Rum, promotion and encouragement of its enjoyment, and interest in the island (25%)
• Maintain use of access road (19%)
• Long-term commitment to conditions of sale (13%)
• Castle ownership (detail on ownership model) (6%)

Question 8 asked: ‘If any or all of these conditions prevent the sale of the castle, what would be your preferred outcome?’

This question asked respondents what their preferred outcome would be if any or all of these conditions prevent the sale of the castle.

Over half (63%) of respondents said their preferred outcome would be that the ‘Sale does not go ahead’; over a third (38%) said their preferred outcome would be that the ‘Sale goes ahead with no conditions’.

1. Approach to the sale

Question 9 asked: ‘Please rank the following options, in terms of how much involvement you would like to have in a future sale.’

This question asked respondents to rank options by preference, in terms of how much involvement they would like to have in a future sale.^[25] Over half (53%) of respondents selected ‘Mediated involvement e.g. with an external negotiator to manage communication between the island community and buyer’ as their preferred option.

A fifth (20%) of respondents selected ‘Direct involvement’ as their preferred option, and 13% of respondents selected either ‘Through an island governance group’ or ‘No involvement’ as their preferred option.

Question 10 asked: ‘How would you like to be kept informed about a potential sale of the castle?’

This question asked respondents how they would like to be kept informed about a potential sale of the castle, by selecting from five options.

The most common answer was by email, which 14 respondents (88%) selected. The second most common answer was through in-person meetings (44%), followed by post (31%) and through the Rum Community Association (31%).

Question 11 asked: ‘Is there anything you would like us to take into account, in terms of how communication with islanders about a potential sale of the castle is carried out?’

This question asked if there was anything that we should take into account, in terms of how communication with islanders about a potential sale of the castle is carried out.

We received 10 responses to this question, which raised the following points about how communication with islanders should take place:

• Communication should be accurate, regular and timely, for example to restore trust between islanders and NatureScot;
• It should happen in a range of ways to suit different people’s needs, for example not all islanders use email;
• It should be directly with islanders, not through community groups such as the Isle of Rum Community Trust or Rum Community Association, to avoid ‘bias’ or misinterpretations, and allow individual responses;^[26]
• The need for community support for any potential sale.

3. Scope of the sale

Question 12 asked: ‘To what extent do you agree that the following should be included in the sale of Kinloch Castle, in addition to the main castle building?’

As in Round 1, there was broad agreement among respondents that some buildings, including the gazebo, squash court, Monica’s rose garden and walled garden, should be included in the sale of Kinloch Castle (see Figure 12), with at least half of respondents agreeing with their inclusion in the sale.^[27]

There was less consensus about the inclusion of the dairy woods, old dairy, workshop / byre and carpenters shed and power house, with less than half of respondents agreeing with their inclusion in the sale.

Bar chart showing respondents’ levels of agreement with the inclusion of additional buildings and areas of land in the sale of Kinloch Castle. The results were:

• Gazebo (69% agreed or strongly agreed)
• Squash court (57% agreed or strongly agreed)
• Monica’s rose garden (51% agreed or strongly agreed)
• Walled garden (50% agreed or strongly agreed)
• Dairy woods (44% agreed or strongly agreed)
• Old dairy (44% agreed or strongly agreed)
• Workshop / Byre and carpenters’ shed (31% agreed or strongly agreed)
• Power house (31% agreed or strongly agreed)

Question 13 asked: ‘If there is a building or area of land on this list that you do not want to see included as part of a sale, please explain why?’

This question asked respondents to explain why they did not wish to see any building or area of land on the list above included as part of a sale. There were 11 responses, which are summarised below in relation to the relevant building or area of land.

Walled garden

• The walled garden is used by the community to grow food, and including it in the sale would limit community access to food, and have further negative impacts in terms of community development, livelihoods and wellbeing;
• The walled garden could benefit the local village as it is the only suitably arable land in the village and better protected from the deer, as the village deer fence has gone;
• There were plans to request the walled garden before the sale was known about, to use as a community allotment and growing area.

Workshop / byre and carpenters shed

• Agreement that this is sold to allow for redevelopment and storage as proposed previously, for example a new owner may require staff accommodation;
• This area also includes a building site. The building should be sold to a different developer and the building site should be sold or given to the community;
• These buildings are a ‘perfect example of what the community needs and can develop’. They should be given to the Isle of Rum Community Trust with promises to get them done up for new owners/residents and for business opportunities.

The old dairy, dairy woods, Monica’s rose garden and football pitch / old tree nursery

• The old dairy building is currently used, so if it is to be included in the sale another space will need to be provided to run freezers for the red deer project.

Referring to the area across the road, including the old dairy building and woods, several respondents highlighted the need for community spaces, for different groups (craft groups, gardening and allotments, woodwork and storage space, mechanics garage).

Several respondents noted the lack of level, good ground to build on outside of the castle area, and that the community ‘would put this ground to good use’. One respondent stated that this whole area has ‘historical community use’:

‘[The dairy] is used as the library and previously a small museum, the school use the football area for sports, the community has a well used polytunnel here, there is a playpark in Monica’s rose garden that is still used by the children, the front field is used for the island games and helicopter landings during emergencies etc.’

Map 1. Round 2 survey

They added that a local group, the Rum Workshop, are looking to develop community building(s) for arts and crafts projects and gardening. Continued use of the dairy building, and possible rebuilding of the smaller Nissen hut would support their plans, and enable the development of a ‘positive community space’ with lots of potential.

A number of respondents expressed the view that these buildings and areas of land are in a state of disuse, and that a productive use for them should be found, whether by the community, as some stated, or by a new castle owner, as others stated.

Power house

• Two respondents stated that the power house, as the island’s main power source, should not be part of a private sale, with one noting that NatureScot, a more neutral body than a new castle owner, is an appropriate owner.
• In question 12, almost two thirds (63%) of respondents strongly disagreed that the power house should be included in the sale of Kinloch Castle.

Wider points

Several respondents made wider points, which can be summarised as:

• Many of the buildings have been left to decline and not looked after. They are now only wanted as part of the sale. It would be better for them to be transferred to the community;
• These buildings or areas of land have potential community uses, and should be owned by the community, rather than a private owner who will not use them;
• Objection to any of these assets being sold with the castle. To protect community interests, these areas should be transferred to the Isle of Rum Community Trust, the local community land owner;
• One respondent stated that they object to the private sale of any publicly owned land, and that NatureScot do not own Rum.

In contrast, several others commented that:

• All of these buildings and areas of land form part of the castle’s historic grounds and should be sold as such;
• These buildings and areas of land are in a state of disuse and need investment, and the community would not be able to manage them (for example, the Isle of Rum Community Trust currently own vacant croft land and under-utilised woodlands, and are selling assets due to the cost of upgrading). A focus and plan on dealing with current aging assets and land is required before attempting to procure more.

4. Future options

Question 14 asked: ‘There are a number of options for the ownership and use of these additional buildings and areas of land. Please rank in order of preference.’

This question explored respondents’ views on different options for the ownership and use of these additional buildings and areas of land:

• Almost half (47%) of respondents said their most preferred option was that the Isle of Rum Community Trust takes ownership of the land and leases the castle building to an individual or company as required;
• One in four (40%) said their most preferred option was that all land and buildings shown in blue on the map are included in the sale of Kinloch Castle;
• 13% said their preferred option was that land or assets is offered to community first before private sale, so that alternative uses or community benefits can be explored.^[28]

Question 15 provided an explanation of what each option for the future use of the castle and surrounding land may look like in practice (see Annex 2), and asked: ‘Please read this, and then rank again in order of preference.’

This question explored respondents’ preference in terms of potential options for the future use of the castle and surrounding land. The options in order of preference were:

• Almost half (47%) of respondents selected public use as their most preferred option (castle is managed for public use; community groups can access and use all areas of the castle and grounds);
• One in four (40%) selected commercial use as their most preferred option (castle is redeveloped and used for a commercial use, for example as a hotel, with limited public access for these purposes);
• Over one in ten (13%) selected mixed use as their most preferred option (for example, castle and land is in private ownership but some public access);
• Over half (60%) selected private use as their least preferred option (castle is in private ownership, with no visitor access to the building or grounds; public access to road and area of land in front of the castle is maintained).^[29]

One respondent said that these were ‘narrow options to choose from when the question could have been broader and more positive’.

Question 16 asked: ‘In terms of the future of Kinloch Castle, please rank these options in order of preference, from your most (1) to least (3) preferred option’

This question explored respondents’ views in terms of the future of Kinloch Castle, by assessing their preference for three wider options:

• Managed decline / curated decay – 38% (5 respondents) selected this is as their most preferred option, and over half (54%) as their middle option;
• Community ownership and use – 31% (4 respondents) selected this is as their most preferred option, and around two fifths (38%) as their middle option;
• Private sale - 31% (4 respondents) selected this is as their most preferred option, and 8% as their middle option. For 62% of respondents, it was the least preferred option.