Islanders on Eigg battle to oust laird

A HEBRIDEAN community yesterday launched a fighting fund to wrest control of their island from an absentee landlord.

The islanders of Eigg are trying to raise pounds 15,000 to 'explore alternatives to the present management' in a bitter battle with their laird, Keith Schellenberg, a Midlands businessman. Relations worsened after a mystery fire destroyed Mr Shellenberg's 1929 Rolls-Royce. Residents have also been refused free access to their community hall.

The Isle of Eigg Trust now aims to secure the island for 'Scottish and global heritage'. The most likely tactic would be to enter a partnership with a conservation body to buy the island. Fiona Cherry, the Trust convenor, said the community was tired of decades of private ownership in which islanders were 'at the whims and vagaries of a series of landlords'.