Villagers running out of time and cash in bid to snap up Duke’s land

‘We are not giving it away’

PLANS to buy a shooting estate from one of Scotland’s biggest landowners could be scrapped because of a lack of cash.

The Duke of Buccleuch is in talks with locals who want to acquire 10,500 acres of his land near their homes in Langholm, Dumfriesshire.

A grant of £1million has already been awarded by the Scottish Land Fund to help fund the project, which aims to provide a nature reserve for wild hen harriers, black grouse and curlew.

However, the bid is now under threat because of a clause in the donation which states that the community group, acting under the name the Langholm Initiative (LI), must raise the outstanding £5.5million needed to secure the site by October 31.

Benny Higgins, executive chairman of the Buccleuch Estate and chairman of the

Scottish Government’s economic recovery panel, said he is willing to be ‘flexible’ to allow local people time to raise the funds.

But he warned that the land could be handed to a private investor should they fail to come up with the money in time.

Mr Higgins told Channel 4 News: ‘Businesses don’t give assets away, and we are not giving it away.

‘If we don’t sell it to them [the community] we’ll sell it to someone else.’

He added: ‘We are being flexible and saying to them if they want more time, we’ll give them more time.’

He also described the Scottish Land Fund deadline as ‘unreasonably rigid’.

If successful, villagers hope to raise money to maintain the site by installing wind turbines and solar panels to provide power to the National Grid.

Kevin Cumming, a Langholm resident and LI project manager, remains hopeful that a deal can be secured, but he added: ‘We accept that it is a big ask to get to where we’re trying to go by October.’

The community group asked for £3million from the Scottish Land Fund, but received only a third of that amount last month.

An online crowdfunding effort has raised £93,000 so far.

In a separate move the Duke is giving more than 100 acres of land to a village community in a ‘historic’ transfer deal.

The gift to the village of Newcastleton, Roxburghshire, includes a sports pitch, golf course and gym, as well as show fields and a telecommunications mast site.

It is hoped the land will help provide the community of 750 people with extra income.

The Duke and his family are worth an estimated £230million, according to last year’s Sunday Times Rich List.