 | Our Lady of the Isles Statue, South Uist 
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Residents of South Uist are beginning a new era with their first full day in control of their land. Angus Macmillan, chairman of the buyout group Storas Uibhist, said the hard work making Scotland's biggest ever community buyout work "starts now".
The estate, which was owned by a sporting syndicate, has changed hands in a �4.5m deal.
The 92,000-acre area accounts for nearly a quarter of the Outer Hebrides land mass.
Mr Macmillan said: "I think there is a real sense of optimism, I think there is a realisation that this is the start.
Six projects
"I think that the hard work starts now."
He added: "It is a reversal of 400 years of people telling you what you should do. Now we have the choice of people themselves deciding what they want for their islands, for their people, for their culture."
Storas Uibhist (Gaelic for the store or wealth of Uist) has six projects it wants to tackle.
They include trying to provide more affordable housing, renewable energy schemes, transforming Lochboisdale into a port of access to South Uist and improving drainage and coastal management.
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