Funding secures Pairc Estate buyout 27/12/13
The ten-year campaign to mount a community purchase of the Pairc Estate on Lewis is now firmly in the hands of the community after a funding package was announced by the Scottish Govenment.
Community body, Pairc Trust, will receive £230,000 from the Scottish Land Fund to complete the purchase of the 26,775 acre estate in South Lochs, which was backed - in principle - by the community at a recent public meeting.
Today, Highlands and Islands Enterprise also announced £76,500 funding, adding to the support already confirmed from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar allowing the Pairc Trust to pursue the purchase for £500,000 under an amicable agreement with the landowner that should go through in early 2014.
It also includes finance for a full-time development manager.
He said they could “now look forward to a more sustainable future with their destiny now placed firmly in their own hands.”
Mr Wheelhouse said: “Land reform is a crucial part of our plans for a more successful Scotland, and I believe that – just as those who live and work in Scotland are best placed to make decisions about the country’s future – local communities are best-placed to decide on their futures.
“That is why we have instigated an ambitious target to place one million acres of land across Scotland into local ownership by 2020, empowering communities, sparking regeneration and driving renewal. Community buyouts, such as the one at Pairc will go towards meeting that ambition, but more importantly will breathe life into the land right across Scotland.”
Mr Wheelhouse continued: “The whole community around the Pairc Estate has worked tirelessly over the past decade to bring their land into local ownership and I am delighted to announce today that the Scottish Land Fund will provide the final part of the funding package to allow the purchase to take place.
Chairman of Pairc Trust, Angus McDowall, said: “This substantial award from the Scottish Land Fund, together with financial support obtained from CnES and HIE, will enable us to purchase the Estate through an amicable transfer on the terms outlined and approved at the public meeting last month. I am most grateful to the Scottish Land Fund, and our other funders, for their very valuable assistance. There now seems every prospect of concluding arrangements to transfer the Estate to the community during the early months of 2014.”