Time to leave past behind and back buyouts such as on Ulva

I WELCOME the news a Mull community group has been granted the right to register an interest in buying the Inner Hebridean island of Ulva (“Islanders back community buyout after Ulva put on market for £4.5m”, The Herald, January 11).

It is not a source of satisfaction, in my view, that in the 21st century we still live in a country where huge tracts of land are run as privately owned estates, many owned by the aristocracy, including the Queen, and overseas interests. The story of how and why we are where we are with land ownership in Scotland is well told by Andy Wightman in his book The Poor Had No Lawyers: Who Owns Scotland.

The initiative of the local Mull group is to be encouraged. While it is a comparatively small island, there is much of Ulva – in terms of history, geography, culture, geology, flora, fauna, literary connections and musical heritage – to be cherished and to be made more widely known.

I hope Environment Secretary Roseanne Cunningham takes more time to consider the position of Ulva than Boswell and Johnson, who visited in 1773. “To Ulva we came in the dark, and left it before noon the next day … being informed that there was nothing worthy of observation,” wrote Johnson.

I also hope that, after due deliberation, she approves the bid being made by the Mull group and that such approval leads on to a brighter and more prosperous future for the island.

Ian W Thomson,

38 Kirkintilloch Road,

Lenzie.