Pairc buyout vote restarts

Peace breaks out in controversial land buyout bid 14/4/14

Peace appears to broken out in the latest twist over a controversial land buyout bid - the longest running dispute under Scotland’s Land Reform Act.

Two months after it was scrapped, a postal ballot is being reorganised to let residents have their final say over purchasing the Pairc Estate on Lewis.

Voting was suddenly stopped when serious disagreements over key elements - said to involve giving the seller, Barry Lomas, a cut of commercial windfarm rents for longer than anticipated - emerged at the last minute in March.

The community-elected Pairc Trust threatened legal action unless fresh negotiations to buy the 26,775 acre crofting tract for £500,000 got back on track.

Now, the warning to reignite a frozen court battle to try and force the landlord to sell the land to the community has receded as mutual agreement has been reached.

According to Pairc Trust, Mr Lomas has “withdrawn the demands he was making to receive income from any commercial wind farm to be built on the Pairc Estate beyond the first 25 years of generation.”

The ballot process is being relaunched under the independent supervision of Western Isles Council’s election team.

Villagers should receive voting papers this week with the count to take place on Thursday 1 May.

Angus McDowall, chairman of Pairc Trust, said “following further discussions and negotiations” the landlord dropped the contentious conditions.

He added: “The terms of the amicable estate transfer negotiated are now consistent with the terms presented to and endorsed by the community meeting held last November.”

Mr McDowall said: “The detailed legal document setting out the agreed terms, subject to community support in a postal ballot, is being made available for inspection by local residents and members.”

Two community meetings over the proposed buyout deal will be held next week.

In November, the community agreed, in principle, to seek an amicable arrangement with the landlord.

But villagers insisted on a postal ballot to give everyone a fair chance to vote rather than just those able to attend a public meeting.

The Pairc Trust was awarded but not drawn down - £230,000 from the Scottish Land Fund plus £76,500 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise on top of funding pledged by the Comhairle.

The funding package will also pay for two full-time development staff posts over the first two years following purchase.

The complex history of the proposed Pairc buyout resulted in two separate court battles - legal action in Stornoway Sheriff Court is presently suspended.

The community buyout was mooted way back in the early 2000s when the draft land reform legislation trundled through the Scottish Parliament before becoming law in 2003.

Prospects of lucrative rentals from a £110 million giant wind farm proposed by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) raised the stakes.

The legal rights to harvest the wind were controversially hived of into a separate corporate entity by the landlord.

In the middle of the legal fight SSE sold its interests to International Power which now plans a much smaller renewable energy scheme.