Land ownership in Scotland, especially in the Highlands and Islands, has long been a controversial issue, especially for those of us living here.
I’m reading James Hunter’s book, Set Adrift Upon The World, which exposes the brutality of the supposed visionary agricultural improvers during the Sutherland Clearances in the early 19th Century. The current debate regarding rewilding of the Highlands, albeit less bloody than the land clashes from 200 years ago, invites parallels.
This time around, wealthy foreign investors are replacing the feudal landlords of the past. This is displayed through the continued and ferocious appetite of Wildland Ltd, an organisation headed by the Danish billionaire and largest landowner in Scotland, Andres Holch Povlsen.
The consequence? The swallowing up of large estates across Sutherland continues unabated.
The sheep being removed in parts is allowing the land to go back to scrub.
Yet there is another real social concern for the livelihood of the area; the new strength of opposition to potential social and economic developments.
Battle lines are being drawn as plans are submitted for a vertical satellite launch site in Sutherland by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) on the A’Mhoine peninsula near Melness, on land owned by the Melness Crofters Estate.
If approved, the Sutherland Space Hub would support 61 much-needed, highly qualified jobs in Sutherland and Caithness, an area with a falling population and rising unemployment levels as the Dounreay Nuclear Site is gradually decommissioned.
HIE estimates a further 250 well- paid jobs would be expected across the region if the development gets the green light.
The Melness Crofters Estate owns 10,000 acres on the north coast and has 59 members, all crofting shareholders, who took a majority vote which gave HIE a lease over the proposed development site if it is consented. However, Wildland Ltd has already placed an intent to object,
Raising the concern that our northern communities are becoming a high-end Disney World, wealthy customers of the Wildland Ltd group are paying £450 a night per person to stay in the recently renovated Lundies Old Manse in Tongue, with other sporting lodges from the group becoming available soon for visitors.
I’ve no gripe with the money being spent on much-needed restoration projects and the local contractors benefiting from the work. Instead, it is their removal of potential social capital through their objections towards vital community developments such as the Space Port or Strathy South Wind Farm, which was granted planning permission at a public inquiry despite Wildland Ltd opposition.
Facilitating economic and social development can be from the ground up through sustainable development with good quality jobs that enhance the natural environment. It doesn’t need to be an either or option – we can do both.
Like the Highland Clearances, there will always be fleeting agricultural improvers – although now, two centuries on, we the Highlanders have a newfound voice of significance and are not afraid to use it.
