The outcome of Scotland’s first hostile crofting estate takeover under the untested Land Reform Act may be known in eight weeks.

The bid by residents in Pairc on Lewis has now exhausted a lengthy process barring the final decision over the go-ahead. The Scottish Government can now make a final decision after October.

But the first use in anger of the previous Labour administration’s flagship policy may be upset by court action which will examine the legality of the application under the law which has been untested since its launch in 2003.

Estate owner Barry Lomas has secured a judicial review and seeks to throw out the buyout bid. He also wants £760,000 from the Pairc Trust or the Scottish Government, for dealing with the buyout application.

The court action risks delaying the final buyout outcome until February by which time the price tag could soar well out of reach if a giant wind farm is approved first.

If delayed planning permission is granted for Scottish and Southern Energy’s £120 million scheme on the Pairc moor then the value of the land dramatically increases overnight.

Mr Lomas previously hampered the land reform law by hiving off the renewable energy rights into a separate entity from the land. The former Scottish Executive was forced to bring in a new law to counter his successful tactic.

The landlord’s legal action follows claims that crucial aspects of the buyout bid under the Land Reform Act are against the European Convention of Human Rights.

Mr Lomas wants to overturn the Scottish Government’s backing of the Pairc buyout process.

He is also challenging the takeover ballot held in December when residents voted two to one to purchase the contentious energy leases, plus sporting and mineral rights on the land.

The overall community was 195 people in favour with 87 against. The turnout was 75% and the results were very similar to a previous ballot.

If the community secures the 20,000 acres of crofters moorland grazings then Mr Lomas would be left as landlord of only 5000 acres of individual tenanted crofts.

The Scottish Government wants both sides to go to mediation but Mr Lomas has not confirmed his stance.

Angus McDowall, chairman of Pairc Trust, said: “I find it extraordinary that the landlord is apparently being allowed to succeed in his transparent strategy of continuing to frustrate the wishes of the community.

“We have done everything asked of us by Ministers under the legislation, and have a sound case.

“I would ask that Ministers now proceed to take a decision on our applications as soon as possible, and do not allow the landlord’s legal and financial bullying tactics to succeed.

He added: “It is ironic that the landlord, after 85 years of his family doing nothing to promote development projects, is now engaged in a local charm offensive, the only aim of which is to undermine the Pairc Trust. If we have achieved nothing else, at least the landlord is now talking about local economic development.

“As for mediation, we have always made it clear that we are prepared to discuss a voluntary transfer with the landlord if he is willing to do so. We would do so from a position of strength, believing that our legal and moral case to purchase the estate on behalf of the community is convincing.”

Mr Lomas was not available for comment.

It is very concerning that many in Pairc will miss out on the renewable energy initiatives which are likely to create sustainability in this and subsequent decades. These opportunities are being seized by communities and villages throughout the Western Isles, with a few small scale hydro schemes coming to fruition and of course the well publicised localised windfarms which are now going to be able to get grid connections. But Pairc seems destined to miss out. Over the decades Pairc Estate has offered support to a variety of projects and schemes and wishes to continue to be supportive.

There is no indication that Pairc Trust will become a community landlord in the foreseeable future, for a number of reasons, including a lack of funding to complete an acquisition, a seeming lack of ability to conclude any aspirations and self inflicted complex legal hurdles. Pairc Trust will probably seek to deny reality, but quite simply, Pairc Trust in its eight years of meetings has not enabled any projects, except for a grant funded part time administrative post, and has no projects capable of producing any profits for many years to come. Pairc Trust does not have to be the community landlord for schemes to be initiated, as evidenced by many successful projects which have been developed over the decades, and recent years, by a number of quite different, specialised or village based groups within Pairc.

Throughout the Western Isles many groups are taking advantage of exciting and financially rewarding schemes, either as community owners or at a more local village, or interest, level. Well publicised renewable energy schemes include wind, wave and hydro.

It is with these types of scheme in mind that Pairc Estate would like to encourage groups within Pairc to consider how they might take advantage of these opportunities. There are almost certainly some projects which would be well suited to being a simple village initiative, even on the scale of the Grimshader turbines. As an example, a village might consider a turbine, wind or hydro, purely for selling the energy to the grid, or perhaps attaching it to a hall to provide power as well as to finance the hall and other village projects. Technical support is readily available from agencies such as Community Energy Scotland, [Kathleen Macdonald 01851 707333 ], as well as local guidance from various people in the Western Isles who have already established projects. It now seems likely that funding emphasis might move away from large community bodies to perhaps villages and townships.

Renewable energy schemes are still receiving support and funding, but with the ever worsening UK economic crisis, the future remains uncertain, probably a very real reason for communities to look to self sustainability and to do so now. It is worth remembering that some 600 groups have benefited from the CARES scheme operated by Community Energy Scotland, but there is no success story from Pairc Trust. To continue to wait for Pairc Trust is probably the opportunity lost.

Pairc Estate would be very pleased to hear from any individual, grazings, village, interest group or other body who might like to discuss, informally and in confidence, how Pairc Estate could facilitate such projects.


This call is addressed to current Grazings Clerks for discussion within townships, individuals who have shown an interest in local projects, any others in the Pairc community who might wish to become involved, ward councillors and Community Energy Scotland.

Your enquiries are very welcome and will remain strictly confidential.

Pairc Crofters Limited - MacDonald House, Somerled Square, Portree, Isle of Skye, IV51 9EH

Medical Practice Merger Documents can also be viewed at the Gravir Medical Practice and on this site on the Documents page

WIHB have published a leaflet explaining their proposals for the Gravir Practice. The will be holding public meetings to discuss the options outlined. The Pairc meeting will be held at:

Tigh Ceilidh, Gravir

23rd August 2010 at 7.30pm

The proposals and additional information can be accessed on the WIHB website at:

www(DOT)wihb.scot.nhs.uk/public-consultation/index.html

Documentation is also available at Ravenspoint.

Pairc Estate submitted a claim for compensation in accordance with the rules of the land reform legislation. Pairc Trust refused to accept the claim and issued a press release suggesting the criminality of the claim. Pairc Trust’s subsequent attempt to offer an unreserved apology was little more than a further hyped news release, much enjoyed by the political press. However, the stark reality of Pairc Trust’s failure to address the issue of the legal compensation claim is that it may now result in a further Scottish Land Court appearance, under the rules of the land reform acts.

Pairc Trust seems to continue to act with impunity, as well as very significant public funding. There is already the publicised cash funding in excess of £140,000 and the considerable free support from HIE and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. Now Pairc Trust has to fund the legal compensation claim from Pairc Estate. Then there are the costs of the Judicial Review relating to Pairc Trust’s 2010 Part 3 application, an issue which neither Pairc Trust nor Scottish Ministers seem to have any interest in discussing, except in court. And now the additional costs of the forthcoming Land Court action. Meanwhile, Pairc Trust seems to be continuing to use Edinburgh solicitors, so the public will be expected to provide the highest level of funding.

It will be remembered that Pairc Trust did not bother to apply to the Big Lottery Fund in 2009. Any thought of a future application under the new Big Lottery Scheme must be balanced with the very considerable baggage of costs which will have to be met by Pairc Trust, as the sums involved far exceed the Big Lottery Scheme’s limits.

Pairc Trust’s Part 3 applications are already in delay by some four months, not of Pairc Estate’s making. Firstly, because Pairc Trust’s 11 December 2009 application was rejected by Ministers. The revised, and new, applications were not submitted until 26 February 2010. Then it took Ministers seven weeks to issue copies of the 60 day responses to Pairc Trust. And now matters are further delayed, despite Pairc Trust’s statement that ‘we do not anticipate needing to take more than a few days to respond’, as it seems that Pairc Trust needs more time to attend to the two thousand pages of responses. Some responses do not make for easy reading with accusations of abuse, bullying and hostility to members of the Pairc community. The largest responses detail the complete incompetence of the applications.

John Randall, ex-Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, used his position as Chairman of Co Chomunn na Pairc to mislead Ministers with his response. He stated that ‘the fact that the estate is not locally run can be a problem’, falsely claiming that Pairc Estate had held up an agreement for two small turbines to be installed by the Ravenspoint Community Centre. The reality, which Mr Randall was well aware of when he signed the letter, was that the turbines were being sited on a croft and that no crofts were included in the Part 3 application. Simply, even if Pairc Trust became community landlord, Pairc Estate would remain landlord of these village lands. He also declared that ‘we have reached agreement with the crofting tenant on the terms of the lease’, another deceit, as Pairc Estate was waiting on his solicitor for many explanations, which subsequently took several months and some forty communications for Pairc Estate to satisfactorily resolve.

Pairc Trust has recently criticised Pairc Estate for delaying its small scale hydro schemes. Pairc Trust has never provided any details, but it is understood that the schemes probably fall on land which Pairc Trust has not included in its application to buy, so are outside its area of possible control.

Pairc Trust has announced a series of village meetings as Pairc Trust’s ‘directors feel it is very important that the community have all the facts and are given the opportunity to questions Directors directly on issues’. For the sake of the Pairc community, Pairc Estate hopes that this declaration is upheld.

Pairc Estate continues to enable community projects, as it has done for many decades, and welcomes approaches from individuals, grazings, villages and community groups for schemes and projects, including renewables and housing.

27 July 2010