Wild Land News no 64, Autumn 2005

COMMENT - A changing pattern of ownership Article

Congratulations to the Assynt Foundation who have bought the 44,000 acre Glencanisp and Drumrunie estates from the Vestey family for £2.9 million. Their purchase was assisted by funding from the Scottish Land Fund, HIE's Community Land Unit, Scottish Natural Heritage, the John Muir Trust and the Tubney Charitable Trust.

The estate includes the iconic peak of Suilven. The new Foundation have hopes to establish the first community owned National Nature Reserve at Drumrunie, and in Glencanisp an emphasis on croft creation, developing eco-tourism and identifying land for affordable housing. Donations to help with the purchase and development costs can be made either direct to the Assynt Foundation or via the John Muir Trust.

There are other potential land purchases in the offing. On South Uist, where both the community and crofters voted in favour of progressing a buy-out of the South Uist estates. This land, comprising 93,000 acres, has been owned by a nine-family farming syndicate since 1961. Two communities on Lewis, in the South Lochs area and the Galston estate are looking to progress possible buy-outs from the current owners.

The combination of new legislation, funding availability and community confidence have begun to change the land ownership pattern in Scotland, especially in the north-west and Hebridean Islands where crofting and community cohesion are strong.

Land reform legislation has strengthened the public interest in the land resource. The provisions for access have endorsed the right of everyone to enjoy our natural heritage, no matter who "owns" it. And for all its faults, the right-to-buy legislation has acknowledged that it is wrong for someone else to hold title to the land on which people live and work and then charge them for being there, while also pocketing the proceeds from public investment in infrastructure in the form of enhanced land values.