A week today: public meeting on the future of the waterfront

Dear friend

Thank you for all the support you have given to Helensburgh Community Council and our campaign to protect the waterfront’s Common Good land so we can all enjoy it now, along with generations to come.

Common Good land, including the site Argyll and Bute Council want to sell for a supermarket development on the waterfront,  is a special category of land protected for public benefit and use. But for many of us, there is much we don’t know about how this land came about, what protections it has and what difference this makes to what we can do with it in the future. 

Find out what Common Good land is and why we should protect it at a public meeting on 30 July

We are delighted that Scottish land expert, Andy Wightman, will be speaking at a public meeting about the future of Helensburgh’s Common Good land, next Thursday 30th July, 7 - 9pm in the annexe at the Civic Centre on East Clyde Street, Helensburgh.

Andy Wightman is a writer and researcher focussing on land governance, land ownership and community land rights. He is the author of publications including  Who Owns Scotland (1996), Scotland: Land and Power (1999), Common Good Land: a review and critique (2005), Community Land Rights: A Citizen’s Guide (2009) and The Poor Had No Lawyers (2010). He runs the www.whoownsscotland.org.uk project. From 2016 to 2021, Andy was a Member of the Scottish Parliament 2016-2021.

We have invited a panel of expert speakers, both for and against the proposed sell off, from Argyll and Bute Council and the Helensburgh Community Council

Peter Brown, convenor of Helensburgh Community Council will be chairing the meeting. We have also invited Pippa Milne, chief executive of Argyll and Bute Council, and Ross Moreland, deputy leader of Argyll and Bute Council, to set out their vision for the waterfront and explain their proposal to sell the Common Good land. We’ll share updates on the campaign and make sure there is plenty of time for questions and answers.

Everyone is welcome. It’s a great opportunity to find out what is going on and how you can make sure your views are heard on the future of the waterfront.

We look forward to seeing you at 7pm on 30 July!

Best wishes,

Polly and everyone at Helensburgh Community Council