Landowner wants to ban public from 23,000 acres (so they won't be eaten by his wolves and bears)

Published on Monday 29 October 2007 01:14

A MILLIONAIRE landowner plans to ban ramblers from his Scottish estate once he opens a wildlife park, in the biggest challenge yet to the right to roam legislation.

Paul Lister aims to release wolves, bears, lynx and beavers back into the wild and restore his Alladale estate in Sutherland to its native state.

His park will be modelled on South Africa's Shamwari game reserve, where animals killed off as a result of hundreds of years of human encroachment were successfully reintroduced.

However, Mr Lister, heir to the MFI furniture fortune, wants a "clear derogation" from the general right of public access covering all 23,000 acres at Alladale.

Mr Lister said the public must make sacrifices in order for his "visionary" plan to go ahead and should be willing to give up the right to access the land enshrined in Scottish law.

He said: "It would not be practical to have people walking around Alladale while wolves roam. There are lots of places where people can walk in Scotland, but there will not be lots of places that they can see animals in their natural habitat.

"Are we prepared to sacrifice access to an area that makes up less than 1 per cent of the Scottish Highlands? Are we prepared to sacrifice walking around that bit of land and trying something different, something that will actually encourage more people to come up here and create lots of jobs?" He added: "I'm a custodian - I'm trying to encourage more people to come up here. Ultimately, the local politicians and the local people will have to decide. It won't be me that makes the decision.

"But we have scarred this landscape. We have to see if we can find a way to put something back."

Mr Lister's aim eclipses two previous high-profile bids to exclude land from public access, by waste disposal magnate Euan Snowie and bus tycoon Ann Gloag.

The right is enshrined in the 2003 Land Reform Act.

Mrs Gloag won the right to exclude the public from ten acres at Kinfauns Castle near Perth earlier this year, a ruling now expected to be appealed.

Mr Snowie's bid to keep the public off about 40 acres of his land near Stirling is awaiting a sheriff's determination. Last night ramblers' groups indicated they would challenge Mr Lister's plans.

Dave Morris, director of the Ramblers Association Scotland, said: "We would have concerns about proposals to enclose substantial areas of land to create a huge fenced enclosure for wolves if this led to the loss of statutory access rights and massive landscape impacts from high fences and service roads.

"Wolves and walkers co-exist in many other European countries, without the need for high fences to separate the two.

"If wolves are to be reintroduced into Scotland it should be on the same basis as elsewhere in Europe, with walkers and wolves free to co-exist in the same mountains and forests."

The proposal also provoked anger among farming leaders. A spokesman for the National Farmers Union said: "

Any proposal to release wolves here would sit oddly with our access legislation. We're unlikely to attract visitors to enjoy our countryside if it contains animals that scare them."

Local people have also expressed fears children could be attacked by wolves escaping from the estate, despite assurances they will be fitted with computer chips to ensure they can be tracked at all times.

Since buying Alladale estate in 2003 for 3 million, Mr Lister, has been working on his scheme to replicate the Shamwari experience in Scotland.

He aims to charge guests up to 27,000 a week to stay at Alladale Lodge, which sleeps 16 people in sumptuous comfort. He also plans 50 day passes, with a ranger and food supplied, for those unable to afford to stay overnight.

He recently spoke of his desire to have up to 20,000 visitors a year at Alladale, creating hundreds of jobs.