‘People can see the changes’: The communities taking on harbours, libraries, sports grounds and pubs

The Start-up: Over the last 10 years, more than 2,000 sites have been transferred to community ownership

In 2015, residents of Portpatrick in Scotland brought their harbour into community ownership (Hazel Sheffield)

On a clear day, you can see the coast of Northern Ireland from the harbour at Portpatrick on the west coast of Scotland. As the port with the shortest distance to Northern Ireland, the harbour had once been the lifeblood of the village. Long before email, 10,000 mail packets made their way from Portpatrick and across the sea to Donaghadee.

The railway came to Portpatrick in 1862, shortly before the cross-channel steamer services moved to nearby Stranraer. When the government switched the mail service to Stranraer, passengers on the railway between the two villages dwindled, and Portpatrick harbour became the preserve for a small fleet of fishermen and some pleasure boats.