'Great deal of uncertainty' for Highland estates following 'near impossible' funding bid for communities

Communities living on rewilding estates up for sale face “a great deal of uncertainty” as the owner’s businesses plan has been shaken up following no community buyout bids.

Jeremy Leggett, former Greenpeace director and founder of Highlands Rewilding Ltd (HRL), announced in September that his three estates were up for sale to pay back money borrowed for land restoration work.

The three estates include the 513-acre Bunloit estate near Loch Ness, Beldorney estate, a listed castle and 351-hectares estate in Aberdeenshire, and a 514-hectare estate across Ulva and the Isle of Danna on the Tayvallich Peninsula.

Dr Jeremy Leggett, founder of Highlands Rewilding.

Mr Leggett said the residents were given first refusal as buyers, with “a very short timeline” to submit bids by December 10, with the £11m bank loan required to be paid back by January 2025.

Community Land Scotland (CLS) said communities interested in buying one of the estates faced “an almost impossible challenge in funding” in the short timeframe and were unable to made the deadline.

The mass-ownership company currently manages two rewilding projects in the Highlands of Scotland at the Bunloit Estate, near Loch Ness, and here on the Beldorney Estate.

The estates up for sale were going for between £2m and £5m.

Mr Leggett said he had hoped to replicate HRL’s sale of part of the Tayvallich estate, on the west coast, to the Barrahormid Trust earlier this year across the other estates. After purchasing the land for £3.2m, the Trust holds the land in perpetuity for nature restoration and community development, including house building.

He told The Scotsman: “It does look like our effort to replicate the Nature and Community In Perpetuity model on Tayvallich hasn’t worked. Or stated another way, the amazing Barrahormid Trust looks like being one of a kind.”

Mr Leggett said since the Scottish Government published its Natural Capital Market Framework in November, the company is shifting its business plan, citing a previous lack of policy as being “the number one problem” when it came to talking to investors.

In a statement, Mr Leggett said: “We are now going to take a deep breath, step sideways, and prepare a revised business plan built around the framework.”

He said HRL has talked to 47 private investors, and the company intends, with the agreement of its lenders, to extend its fundraising campaign into 2025, and to pitch to investors again in February.

Mr Leggett has previously said bridging the loan, which came from the state-owned UK Infrastructure Bank, was “risky”, adding: “We are pioneers and we are taking risks.”

Land campaigners have previously expressed concern about the “speculative financial models” used to secure land for nature restoration.

Commenting on the absence of community bids, policy manager at CLS, Dr Josh Doble, said: “There is a great deal of uncertainty about what may happen to the estates owned by Highlands Rewilding (HRL), which is understandably a cause for concern amongst local communities who need clarity on what may be happening to the land, jobs and housing in their local area.

“We welcomed the memorandum of understanding HRL signed with the Tayvallich Initiative and are hopeful that some of the benefits from that arrangement will continue, regardless of future ownership.

“We also hope dialogue between HRL and the local communities near the estates can continue to develop, with community aspirations wholeheartedly supported by the company as part of their stated commitment to nature and community.

“The communities interested in purchasing one of the estates faced an almost impossible challenge in funding, given land prices are so high and current funding streams are not agile or significant enough to respond to quick sales such as these.

“Communities need to be empowered to take over significant areas of land to support the sustainable development of their local area.”