PARADISE COST
Community buyouts of bucolic estates promise people power, but public cash funds the dream
Communities are turned into wards of state that are kept alive by subsidy
MILLIONS of pounds of taxpayers’ money are being spent on propping up Scotland’s community buyout schemes after reform of land laws saw residents of dozens of islands and rural estates take ownership of the place where they live and work.
A Scottish Mail on Sunday investigation has found that many of the collectives which took control of their local estates with Scottish Government backing are struggling financially.
An analysis of the latest annual reports for Scotland’s community buyouts shows that they generated a combined profit of £2.1 million – but only after receiving grants totalling £2.9million.
Nearly half recorded losses – and one even needed public funds to stage a barbecue.
The SNP recently brought in compulsory purchase powers which will make it even easier for communities to force landowners to sell.
But Eben Wilson, director of the campaign group Taxpayer-Scotland, said: ‘Most small communities are managed by a mixed bag of folk.
‘Many are happy to work but there are few able to put up with the sheer slog of running a profitable business.
‘Human history tells us that community goodwill is not enough; you need people to make profits, design change and work out how to generate efficiency. There is nothing worse than state support to stop this process in its tracks. It turns communities into wards of state that act like low-level quangos, kept alive by subsidy.’
The first big community buyout in post-war history came in 1993 when the Assynt Crofters Trust raised £300,000 to buy the 21,300-acre North Lochinver Estate after the Swedish property company owner went bankrupt.
The venture has generated profits of £193,000 over the years, though it recorded a minor loss last year.
The Scottish Mail on Sunday analysed annual reports from 2014-15 of 33 buyouts of 100 acres or more which have been established long enough to lodge accounts.
In 2014-15, they were profitable, generating £2.1 million more income than their outgoings.
But the figures suggest that the sector was only in the black due to subsidies. In the same period, they won public
Helps to build confidence and numbers and sustain rural areas
funding of £1.16 million and other grants of £1.75 million – a total of £2.91 million.
In all, 15 schemes declared losses – including the Isle of Eigg; Kingsburgh Plantations and Tormore Forest on Skye; and Stronafian Forest near Colintraive in Argyll.
Another ten edged into profit with money from the state and charities.
That leaves eight profitable without public support: Langamull and West Ardhu Woodlands on Mull; RAF Machrihanish airbase on Kintyre; the Perthshire schemes at Cultybraggan near Comrie and Dun Coillich near Aberfeldy; Kylesku in Sutherland; Bhaltos on Lewis; Borve and Annishader on Skye and Fernaig in Wester Ross.
Together, they generated profits of £631,000 with grants of £168,000.
The RSPB gifted Isle Martin – uninhabited since the 1940s – to the nearby communities of Lochbroom and Ullapool in Wester Ross in 1999.
Locals offer a ferry service but the cottage it rents out there brought in revenue of only £33 last year while the council tax bill was £930.
With only £7,663 in the bank and losses in 2014-15 of £6,362, time is running short for the venture to turn a profit. The trust is now receiving taxpayer cash from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) for a ‘Visioning Day, with the aim of pinning down our goals for the next ten years’.
It is also staging an open day with locals invited to ‘help us do some tidying up, remove rubbish and we will provide a barbecue for everyone. We have secured a small grant from Keep Scotland Beautiful to cover costs’. In 2014, North Harris – bought with public help from Jonathan Bulmer of the cider-making family in 2003 for £4.5 million was handed £196,650 of taxpayers’ cash via the Scottish Government, HIE, Scottish Natural Heritage, Western Isles Council, Forestry Commission Scotland, NHS Western Isles, the Scottish Land Fund and Bord na Gàidhlig.
Kinloch on Rum was given £185,495 of public money while the Big Lottery Fund put £701,186 towards a new harbour for Lochboisdale, owned by the South Uist community and Acharossan Forest near Tighnabruaich in Argyll received £3,500 of lottery cash to employ a consultant to investigate woodland ecoburials.
Glencanisp and Drumrunie estates near Lochinver, Sutherland – 44,000 acres of some of Scotland’s most beautiful wilderness – are also in danger of going bust.
Bought from the Vestey family in 2005 for £2.9 million, locals tried to make money by planting trees and creating a wedding venue.
But last year it recorded losses of £57,000 and Ledbeg House, a listed property, was sold in January to keep the project afloat. Cash is so short that last year celebrations to mark the ten-year anniversary of the buyout had to be paid for using a £27,000 grant from HIE.
However, the buyout movement has won backing from one of Scotland’s leading land historians.
Dr Annie Tindley, a senior lecturer at Dundee University, said: ‘All landowners take advantage of grants and subsidies available to them. Some of the largest beneficiaries are private estates so it seems quite unfair to criticise community landowners. ‘Every community owner I have spoken to has it as their number one priority to develop locally-based income streams and break away from grant funding.
‘Rarely is private landownership very profitable. Having studied Scottish landed estates from the early 19th Century to the Second World War, my view is that they are principally means against which families could take out credit or debt and Scotland has a pretty high turnover of private landowners as a result.
‘Although many private estates do consult and work with those that live on the land, under community ownership there is a democratic model in place to make decisions about the environment and assets. This builds confidence and numbers and helps sustain rural Scotland.’
David Johnstone, chairman of the private landowners’ umbrella group Scottish Land and Estates, said: ‘Community-owned land will frequently face the same tough financial decisions as private landowners. It needs ongoing funding.
‘The reality is that both public and private investment are needed.’
The latest Land Reform Act extends to urban areas the right of communities to have first refusal on land coming up for sale and also gives more compulsory purchase powers.
In March, the Scottish Government committed a further £10 million to its Scottish Land Fund, which gives grants to community buyouts – the third such tranche of cash.
It wants to double the amount of land in community ownership to a million acres by 2020.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Most right-to-buy initiatives in Scottish communities are successful.’