Rewilding 'pioneer' in race against time to pay off £11m bank loan for Scottish estate

Jeremy Leggett said the bridging loan was a necessary ‘risk’ in order to scale up nature restoration with his purchase of Tayvallich in Argyll.

A rewilding ‘pioneer’ is set to sell part of three of his Scottish estates to raise funds to pay off an £11m bank loan taken to secure land for nature restoration.

Jeremy Leggett, a former director of Greenpeace who set up Highlands Rewilding to scale up nature restoration across Scotland, has until January to repay the money borrowed largely to buy the Tayvallich estate in Argyll last May.

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He is in talks with 27 financial insitutions to raise the funds but will now also look to sell off parts of Tayvallich and two others owned by Highlands Rewilding - Bunloit near Drumnadrochit and Beldorney in Banffshire - to pay off the loan.

The community at Tayvallich said it was “concerned” about the proposed sale with Community Land Scotland raising issue with the “speculative financial models” used to secure land for nature restoration.

Mr Leggett said the bridging loan from the state-owned UK Infrastructure Bank was “risky” but necessary to secure the Argyll estate, half of which has since been sold in a much-lauded deal to the Barrahormid Trust which will hold it in perpetuity for nature restoration and community development, including house building.

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Mr Leggett said: “We always knew that this was the risky element in all this. I went to all the main shareholders in Highlands Rewilding and asked ‘should we take this risk? The response was ‘fortune favours the brave’.

“We went ahead and I think it was so clearly the right thing to do because we are only talking to these 27 financial insitutions because we bought Tayvallich.”

He added: “We are pioneers and we are taking risks. We are out there trying to break through and lots of eyes are on us.”

Mr Leggett said accessing finance in “an embryonic nature recovery market” had been challenging given governments had been “slow” in delivering commitments made in the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework treaty to reverse global biodiversity collapse.

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He added: “Government’s signed this treaty in 2022 and two years on we still have no policy framework for people who want to invest in nature recovery in Scotland.”

Jeremy Leggett, CEO of Highlands Rewilding.Jeremy Leggett, CEO of Highlands Rewilding.
Jeremy Leggett, CEO of Highlands Rewilding. | Highlands Rewilding.

Mr Leggett said he wanted to replicate the sale to the Barrahormid Trust across his estates given the community and ecological benefits involved.

Estate agents Strutt & Parker are now searching for new buyers.

The development comes just 14 months after Mr Leggett signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the community-led Tayvallich Inititative, part of which pledged a no evictions policy for tenants and protection of homes on the estate as permanent residences.

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Details of the land on offer will be made available on October 1 with residents given until December 10 to make an offer.

Martin Mellor, Chair of Tayvallich Initiative (TI) said: “The community in Tayvallich was concerned to hear of the proposed sales with a quick timeframe.

“Tayvallich Initiative is looking at options from the community perspective and will convene a community meeting to discuss. A key aspect of any sale is to apply Rural Housing Burdens (RHBs) to each property sold to ensure they are used as primary residences, and Highlands Rewilding (HRL) have committed to this.”

Dr Josh Doble, Community Land Scotland Policy Manager, said: “Community Land Scotland is deeply concerned by Highlands Rewilding announcement that they are selling land to repay enormous loans they took out to buy the land in the first place.

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“ Scottish land acquisitions should not be based upon these speculative financial models which require the rapid creation of underdeveloped natural capital markets in order to be financially viable.

“Highland Rewilding's land sale shows how vulnerable this speculative green laird model is, and as a result how vulnerable promises of 'community prosperity' are when based on this. “

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