Scottish land reform is going nowhere – Brian Wilson

A planned community buy-out of the Killundine Estate on the Morvern peninsula is a rare exception to the trend, writes Brian Wilson.
Achnacha Wood at Savary Point on the Morvern Peninsula (Picture: Neil Hanna)Achnacha Wood at Savary Point on the Morvern Peninsula (Picture: Neil Hanna)
Achnacha Wood at Savary Point on the Morvern Peninsula (Picture: Neil Hanna)

Morvern is one of our forgotten corners, long since left to the mercies of estate owners. That is the lottery on which much of rural Scotland depends and usually loses.

This week, the Scottish Land Fund announced a £1 million grant towards a community buy-out of Killundine Estate which accounts for 10,000 acres of Morvern with nobody resident or employed.

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Morvern Community Woodlands must still find £1.7 million to reach the asking price. With no physical assets, all the current owners are selling is the abundant natural heritage – for £2.7 million!

The school roll in Lochaline has fallen from 36 to 14 within 20 years and Morvern’s population is around 300. I wish the buy-out well.

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However, wider questions should be addressed. As long as owners set prices, regardless of their record of custodianship, land reform is an impossible objective.

Since 2016, the vast majority of Scottish Land Fund grants were for assets like village halls, churches, even public toilets. Worthy causes – but nothing at all to do with land reform.

In the early days of the Scottish Land Fund, a lot of crofting land was taken into community ownership because crofting regulation makes estate valuations much lower. Non-crofting land is entirely different and demands different measures.

The Scottish Land Fund since 2016 has made only two other substantial grants for buy-outs – £4 million for the island of Ulva and £1 million for a small part of Buccleuch Estates. It’s not the Land Fund’s fault but this is tokenism.

The message is clear. Without a more aggressive approach to acquisition where public interest justifies it, Scottish land reform is going nowhere. Rare exceptions like Killundine serve to prove that rule.

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