A third of a Scottish island’s population work on a golf course

Rosemary Ayimin Golf

Jura12th Ardfin
A third of the entire population of the Scottish island of Jura work on a golf course that hasn't even been built yet.

The Inner Hebridean island had a population of 190 prior to an Australian hedge fund millionaire announcing he was going to build a luxury golf course on it. Now it has nearly 300, and 85 of them are contractors from Ireland who are building the resort.

Banker Greg Coffey, 45, who is worth about £430 million, is spending £50 million developing the private estate.

Coffey is also renovating the Jura House and old farm buildings on his 12,000-acre Ardfin Estate into luxury accommodation. He attracted controversy in 2011 when he closed the estate's public gardens, whose 2,500 visitors a year formed a significant source of income for Jura.

About 20 workers are concentrating solely on the course, with the other 65 working on other areas of the resort,

Andy McCallum, who runs the Jura Hotel, said: "It's almost a 50 per cent population increase for two years. People are really busy and the island at the moment is stretched to the limit. They have management meetings here at the hotel so there are architects and engineers coming to stay with us twice a month.

You can read the full article from Golf Club Management HERE

Image: 12th green under construction - copyright The Henebrys

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