Delay to Pairc buyout appeal 21/7/11
The latest court appeal over contentious untested elements of the Scottish Land Reform Act has been delayed.
Lawyers were today due to thrash out details of the process over the first test case of the controversial law which sparked Scotland’s first ever hostile land buyout.
But the hearing over the Pairc estate on Lewis is now postponed at Stornoway Sheriff Court until August 8th.
A court spokesman said counsel for both the Scottish Government and Pairc Estate owner Barry Lomas were granted their motion to adjourn proceedings.
When they return next month, Sheriff David Sutherland is expected to split the case into two directions.
He plans to direct the complex human rights arguments to the Court of Session. It may take around two years for the Edinburgh court to determine the lawfulness of the Scottish Parliament permitting a community to take control of a crofting estate against the owner’s express refusal to sell.
Provided a challenge is not raised in the Supreme Court in London, only then will a raft of other objections be debated in the Sheriff Court in Stornoway.