Crofting tenants and local residents are working towards a community buy-out under land reform legislation of the 2600-hectare Skerray Estate, located on a rocky promontory between Tongue and Bettyhill.

But Lord Strathnaver of Sutherland Estates, whose mother, the 86-year-old Countess of Sutherland, lives at the House of Tongue, has warned he will resist any bid to take the ground under community ownership.

He has justified his position by stating he has an “attachment” to the area which has been in his family’s ownership since the early 19th century – and in any case he thinks it will fare better under Sutherland Estates ownership.

Lord Strathnaver, who was not available for comment this week, made his opposition crystal clear to economist Steve Westbrook who last year carried out a feasibility study into the land purchase.

Mr Westbrook stated in the study: “In a meeting with our consultancy team, Lord Strathnaver made it clear that Sutherland Estates would resist selling the land – having an attachment to the area and believing that residents would be served better through continued ownership by Sutherland Estates than through community purchase.”

Sutherland Estates factor Chris Whealing, who is based in Golspie, said Lord Strathnaver was out of the county at present. He added that he had no information that would lead him to believe that Lord Strathnaver had changed his mind since last year’s meeting.

A member of the steering group set up to carry forward the buy-out proposal told The Northern Times earlier this week that as far as they were aware, Lord Strathnaver had not changed his stance.

Philip Taylor said: “We have not heard any differently. One of the jobs of our new committee will be to approach the estate again.” He said the estate had been valued at between £180,000 and £200,000.

Mr Taylor explained that if the landowners could not be persuaded to sell, then the community could still attempt to purchase the land under part three of the Land Reform Act which gives crofting communities the right to buy croft land.

“We have two options at the moment. We could have a willing buyer and a willing seller, which is what we would like to achieve, but that would require Sutherland Estates wanting to sell,” said Mr Taylor.

“Or we could go down the road of part three of the Land Reform Act which is extremely difficult and has, as far as I’m aware, been embarked upon but not completed by any other community company.”

He continued: “A few communities did start to go down that road, but the landowners all came round in the end and sold voluntarily. I think one of the community companies in Harris or Lewis went a long way down the road before the owners agreed to sell.

“Just the sheer technicalities of it can be extremely difficult and one of the problems is mapping – we would have to map every single yard of the area included in the sale. In an area like Skerray, where there are no proper maps and much of the ground is contentious, that is difficult. We don’t want to go down that road if we can help it.”

Neil Ross of the Scottish Executive’s Community Land Unit said this week: “I understand that the Countess of Sutherland may be more open minded than Lord Strathnaver about this, but that Lord Strathnaver does more of the day to day running of the estate even though he is not technically the owner.

“The community have been quite keen to get an audience with the Countess to explain their aspirations and discuss the feasibility study, but I do not believe this has happened as yet.

“The hope is that the potential of using part three of the Act might bring some landowners to the table, but if the landowner is absolutely determined to hang on to the estate and the community is absolutely determined to buy it out, then they would have to go all the way through part three. The hope of the Skerray group is that the estate will eventually be persuaded to do a willing sale.”

Moves towards a community buy-out began at a public meeting in Skerray in June 2004 when a steering group was formed. In July the following year, it was agreed at a second public meeting that a feasibility study should be carried out.

A third public meeting on 28th June this year saw membership of the steering group, which has now developed into the Skerray Community Ownership Trust (SCOT), doubled from four to eight.

Skerray Estate includes two offshore islands, Island Neave, close to Skerray harbour and Island Roan, a mile from the harbour.

The report states: “According to Sutherland Estates, neither of these islands are under crofting tenure, and we were told they would not be available for community purchase. The community, however, understands the islands to be under crofting tenure. This issue would need to be resolved if the community decided to move forward on a potential purchase.”

According to the feasibility study, there are 91 full-time residents living in 46 households in the Skerray area. Two-fifths of the residents are aged over 60. A lack of housing sites or affordable housing is viewed as a critical barrier to inward migration and the retention of young people.

The report suggests that fishing, walking and other outdoor activities could be developed on the estate and outdoor clay pigeon shooting established, along with other recreational facilities such as a football park.

It is also suggested that revenue could be derived from growing Christmas trees and cultivating bog myrtle and other wild plants and herbs for Highland Natural Products.

Mr Taylor explained that SCOT was now working towards the formation of a community company – a move required by the Scottish Executive’s Community Land Unit before an interest in the land can be registered.

“We have a lot of work to do in terms of expanding what was done in the feasibility study. That study is just too general and has not got enough detail in it to be able to go forward into the buy-out process,” he said.

“We’re just going to look at the whole process in much more depth. Once we’ve done all that, we would come back to the community and put forward a set of proposals and hold a ballot as to whether we go forward with the buy-out.

“I’m not expecting anything to happen in six months to two years. It’s quite difficult when you’re dealing with eight people who are all volunteers and a number of whom are working people with children.”

The community website can be found at www.skerray.org.uk.

carolinem@northern-times.co.uk

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