Galson Estate buyout seals ascendancy of community ownership

Galson Estate buyout seals ascendancy of community ownership

Senscot

12.01.07

With the agreed purchase of Lewis’s Galson Estate by a community buy-out yesterday, more than half of the land in the Western Isles – for centuries concentrated in the hands of private landlords – now rests in public or community ownership.

The 56,000-acre estate, which is in the North of Lewis, has a thriving Gaelic community, numbering 2,000 people living in 22 villages and more than 600 crofts. 80% of the community use Gaelic every day. The takeover is the first instance of a crofting community right to buy application coming to fruition.

Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn (the Galson Estate Trust) had applied to the Scottish Executive to purchase the common grazings on the estate under part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. A legal battle against a hostile takeover was anticipated by some, but in the end a peaceful settlement was reached with the owner, at the price of £600,000. In the place of one owner, the estate will be managed by ten elected trustees.

Norman Thomson, the chairman of the Galson Estate Trustees, said, “This is a great day for the people who live in the villages on Galson Estate. It is also a historic day for the whole of the Western Isles and for Scotland,”

Deputy Minister for Rural Development Sarah Boyack hailed the purchase as “a significant event for the Trust and the wider community in the north of Lewis. The Trust’s success demonstrates quite clearly how successful Land Reform Act can be.”

The community land movement got moving with the Assynt Crofters takeover in 1992. And since three years ago, communities have been given the right to buy their land whether or not the landlord wishes to sell, under legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament.

The Galson buy-out did not have an auspicious start. The Grahams and Macraes, the Lewis families who owned the land, initially refused even to discuss it. A leasing agreement had been reached with the power giant Amec, to site almost half of the world’s largest windfarm on the estate. A company had been formed to receive royalties form the development.

But following a legal opinion published by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, which cast doubt on the validity of such a lease. But a deal was subsequently struck with the estate under which Galson Energy would fold, and the community pay the estate 17.5% of the landlord’s share of any royalties.

A small community windfarm of up to three turbines is now planned and there are anticipated cultural and social spin-offs from the communities.

Agnes Rennie, one of the trustees and a local crofter, described Galson as the strongest Gaelic speaking community in Scotland.

“Our secondary school is the only one in the Western Isles where the roll is going up. We now have the opportunity to build businesses based on this by linking our language, history and heritage to the latest computer technology.”

Doug McAdam, chief executive of the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association, agreed the transition in recent years from private to community ownership in the Western Isles was significant.

But he added: “Only time will demonstrate whether such arrangements are truly sustainable without ongoing public sector support.”

Sources: BBC, The Herald, Scottish Executive