An impressive 40 places across the region are now owned by local communities.
Forests, shops and countryside are among the much-loved locations now belonging to the public according to a report by Community Land Scotland.
It means Dumfries and Galloway is showing the way forward for the rest of Scotland.
Chairman of Community Land Scotland Ailsa Raeburn said: “The past five years has seen the south of Scotland become one of the fastest growing areas for community land ownership.
“Communities all across the south are taking advantage of the rights and funding available to buy land and buildings that are important to the development of their community.
“All these efforts are creating long term transformational change – helping to reverse long standing depopulation and the loss of young people and building community confidence and resilience.
“Communities are coming together to take charge of what needs to change in their local area and working with partners to develop local projects.
“This is all hard work and takes time and effort. It also requires support from agencies and local authorities working in partnership with local people to make better places.
“Communities have shown they have the ambition, tenacity and skills but they can’t make the changes the South of Scotland needs on their own.”
One of the examples highlighted in the report is Carsphairn Community Trust which purchased 120 acres of Muirdrochwood Forest thanks to cash from the Scottish Land Fund, Carsphairn Community Energy Fund and Forestry and Land Scotland.
The project is helping create new jobs and is developing a sustainable woodland for the local community to enjoy, in turn improving wildlife and biodiversity and supporting the creation of a local wood fuel enterprise and rural skills training centre.
Another Stewartry project investigated in the report is New Galloway Community Enterprises. After the final shop in the burgh was on the verge of closure, the group launched a community buy-out.
It was able to demonstrate support by raising tens of thousands of pounds by selling shares in the scheme – some being bought by people as far away as Norway and California.
That backing was helped secure more than £800,000 from the Big Lottery Development Fund which covered the purchase and renovation of the shop and house it was part of, with the house being converted into holiday flats. Money has also been used for a community engagement worker.
Ailsa added: “It might feel like the start of a process in the South, in communities starting to take control of their local areas.
“What’s also very exciting is the sense of the scale of the ambition and vision in so many communities – they see what needs to change and want to be an active part in leading that change.”
