Farmers in court battle over ‘f lawed’ evictions
Tenants fight to make Scottish Government pay compensation
A FAMILY facing eviction from a farm they have run for more than 20 years are taking their fight with the Scottish Government for compensation to court.
Brothers John and Ian Paterson, of Glenree Farm on the Isle of Arran, are due to be evicted with their family on November 28 in what they describe as a ‘21st century Highland clearance’.
The tenant farmers have been ordered to hand the land back to their landlords.
They are among six farmers pursuing damages at the Court of Session in Edinburgh for the loss of their homes and livelihoods, saying the situation is the result of a ‘flawed’ law enacted by the Scottish parliament in 2003.
The Government’s decision to grant tenant farmers rights to stay on their
‘We are all under huge pressure’
farms in perpetuity was ultimately ruled illegal and in breach of landlords’ rights by the UK Supreme Court in a test case.
A remedial order was passed to hand farms back to landlords and the Government said it would ‘look sympathetically’ at any compensation claims made by those affected, but this has not materialised.
The brothers’ father, Jim Paterson, 59 – who suffered a stroke eight years ago and a mini-stroke eight months ago – moved the family to the island in 1996 to take on the lease of the 5,000-acre livestock farm with a ten-year limited partnership, which was passed on to his sons in 2003.
The Patersons were caught in repercussions from the test ‘Salvesen Riddell’ ruling, meaning they will lose the farm, complete with a champion flock of 1,400 blackface sheep and 100 cattle.
Ian, 26, who also runs a falcon breeding centre, said: ‘You just don’t expect a 21st century Highland clearance by the Scottish Government in this modern world but that’s what it is.’
He and his 32-year-old brother, together with John’s son Logan, seven, will move into a three-bedroom house, with a mortgage, on the mainland, along with their father and mother, Christine, 61.
John said: ‘My dad’s health has been affected. We are all under huge pressure. After the legal action in 2013, the Scottish Government led us to believe that if we were to be evicted as a result of their mistake, there would be compensation. Now there’s nothing.
‘We are on our own and have to pay for court action against the Government. It’s all very stressful. My father took a stroke eight years ago and had another when the eviction letter came in earlier this year due to the stress.
‘We don’t have any money and are selling all the stock and machinery in order to pay our debts. We are left high and dry.
‘It was our dream to get a secure tenancy and then it was just taken away. It has left us stranded.’
He added: ‘My son Logan is only seven and he knows all the tups [male sheep] by name and to be told they are all going to have to be sold – quite often at night my wife finds him sobbing and crying.’
The Patersons’ landlord, laird of Arran Charles Fforde, decided not to offer a new lease and will run the farm himself.
Ian, who breeds falcons for sale to the Middle East, has 78 birds of prey. He has spent £150,000 building an aviary and other facilities.
He said: ‘The falcons would give us a job for a while if we can get some compensation but my complete breeding season next year is going to be wiped out.
‘The falcons are all we will have when we are evicted but it is going to be devastating if we have to lose them. Without compensation we won’t have anywhere to keep them. The Scottish Government could sign this off tomorrow if they wanted to but they are forcing us into this action.’
A four-day judicial hearing at the Court of Session began yesterday to decide whether compensation should be given to the farmers.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it was not possible to comment on a live court case, but added: ‘The Scottish Government remain committed to facilitating and funding mediation between tenant farmers and their landlords... this can provide a forum for tenants and landlords who wish to engage to discuss and explore resolution of issues between them.’
‘It is going to be devastating’