The former airbase at Machrihanish on the Kintyre peninsula has been sold for £1, BBC Scotland has learned. The buyer is a company owned and controlled by local people, who hope the site can help reinvigorate the local economy near Campbeltown. The former RAF station, which was owned by the MoD, was a strategically important site during the Cold War.

The UK government's Scottish Secretary Michael Moore told BBC Scotland the community had been "working very hard" on the deal for years. He said: "I am delighted that, using right-to-buy legislation and working closely with the Scottish government and the MoD, we now have a position where the local community body will be able to take over the asset and make sure it works for the community and builds the local economy." The Machrihanish Airbase Community Company wants to attract businesses to the areas and create jobs.