2020 wall calendar Smelter estate report will answer land questions

A report being drawn up by Lochaber smelter owner GFG Alliance will answer many of the outstanding questions and concerns surrounding plans for the 114,000 acres of estate lands the company acquired when it bought the Fort William aluminium plant.

With last week’s shock news that the proposed alloy wheels plant earmarked for a site at the smelter in Fort William could be in doubt, calls are growing for the issue of community land transfer to be back on the table.

GFG Alliance said last week an automotive wheels plant was an option under consideration but, in view of a downturn in UK car production, alternative uses for the smelter’s liquid aluminium – such as industrial extrusions or water bottles – were also being considered.

At the time of the 2016 sale of the smelter and its associated estate lands by Rio Tinto Aluminium, there was a bid for the land on the table from the East Lochaber and Laggan Community Trust.

Although that ultimately proved unsuccessful, the trust welcomed the sale to GFG Alliance because of the prospect of around 400 new jobs being created, existing smelter jobs being safeguarded and future expansion.

But John Hutchison, chairman of the trust, says given Liberty has expressed doubts about the alloy wheels plant, there are bound to be wider concerns about the viability of the estate lands operations.

‘A community-owned estate remains an option and, because of the uncertainty, is the only way of securing the land for the community, long term,’ he told us.

‘Are people losing confidence in the project locally? If they are, then this is the time to bring the issue of community land transfer back to the fore.

‘The aspiration of the East Lochaber and Laggan Community Trust never threatened power generation, nor the viability of the smelter. The purchase of the two major power stations came with the water rights which would be unaffected by any transfer of land to community groups.

‘In return for its financial support, GFG Alliance was required to give a formal undertaking to the Scottish Government to do certain things, one of which was a community land transaction, which is clearly outstanding.’

Asked to respond, GFG Alliance told the Lochaber Times this week: ‘We are in the process of drawing together a very wide-ranging report on the estate and associated activities, which should be published by the end of January, and certainly before the end of the first quarter. The subject of land transfers will be in that report and hopefully all the questions about the estate lands will be answered then.’

‘A community-owned estate remains the only way of securing the land for the community, long term.’