The Fund’s Purpose
The Scottish Land Fund was launched on 26 February 2001 by the New Opportunities Fund,
a National Lottery distributor, with the aim of contributing to sustainable development in
rural Scotland by assisting communities to acquire, develop and manage local land or
land assets. The Fund will make £10 million available to help communities
establish the feasibility, complete the purchase, and undertake the development and
management of local land and land assets.
As well as providing a new resource for improving community involvement in land
ownership and management, it is hoped that the Scottish Land Fund will enhance
environmental diversity and facilitate positive use of the land reform legislation to
diversify the pattern of land ownership in rural Scotland.
Contracted Management Agents
Highlands and Islands Enterprise in partnership with Scottish Enterprise are
administering the Scottish Land Fund on behalf of the New Opportunities Fund. The Scottish
Land Fund Committee established using the Nolan principles, meets monthly to consider
applications and make grant award decisions.
What the Fund Supports
Three types of assistance are available:
Initially, Scottish Land Fund staff concentrated on promoting the Fund throughout
Scotland, dealing with initial enquiries and processing the first cases to get to the
application stage. By mid-November 2001, some 324 initial enquires had been generated from
throughout Scotland. Although the Highlands and Islands, with its history of community
land ownership aspiration, has generated the majority of these enquiries, 39 percent have
come from community groups based elsewhere in Scotland. The vast majority of enquiries are
eligible to apply to the fund for assistance. The initial promotion phase is now complete,
the team having delivered more than 100 presentations, and Land Fund staff are now
concentrating on working with groups to bring forward competent applications for
assistance.
This outreach work has yielded 40 applications from throughout Scotland, covering a
variety of land uses including woodlands, whole estates, village renewal, development
plots and existing buildings. The projects have been at various stages, from earliest
planning to acquisition and beyond to land development phases. Awards made by the Scottish
Land Fund Committee have been well published in the national press, however it might be
useful to review some of the decisions below to indicate the diversity of geography and
project stages and types that have been supported to date.
Twenty-eight projects have so far been supported and a net £3,275,000 has been
committed. Excluding the Gigha project, the net commitment is £750,000. Highlands and
Islands Enterprise’s Community Land Unit have committed match funding of £672,000.
Some £3.95 million of funding has been achieved to-date.
In this category, grant was approved for the Woodhead - Windyhills Community Group
(Aberdeenshire) to investigate the possibility of acquiring the 40-hectare Windyhills
woodland, including sections of ancient woodland and an internationally significant
underlying geology. The group subsequently incorporated as a legal body and applied
successful for acquisition funding. This was a classic example of technical assistance
priming the acquisition stage of the project.
Other cases for technical assistance, the feedstock of future acquisition applications
to the Fund include grants to Glen Beag Woodland (Lochalsh) and Gordon Community Woodland
Association (Borders) for the investigation of possible woodland purchases. Also, the Isle
of Eigg Heritage Trust received support to carry out a detailed study of the renewable
energy potential of the untapped resources of the island.
In the development category, Fernaig Community Trust (Lochalsh) had land development
and project officer funding approved. Fernaig has now appointed the officer for 3-years
and completed drainage, fencing and new road and bridge infrastructure work. The Deputy
First Minister, Jim Wallace visited Fernaig in August to review the community’s
achievements. Also in the development category, the well established Abriachan Forest
Trust (Inverness) received funding to acquire environmentally sympathetic forestry
machinery and revenue funding for paths infrastructure development in the Abriachan forest
above Loch Ness. The path infrastructure will contribute Great Glen path network.
The first two existing building projects were from Mull and Iona Community Trust
(Argyll), who sought to secure the only butchers shop on the island. The second
application came from the Ross of Mull Historical Centre who acquired a derelict
historical mill in Bunessan for sympathetic conversion into a historical centre from which
to pursue their goals.
This is the core purpose of the Fund. The first actual land acquisition grant was
awarded to Deskford and District Community Association (Moray) to enable extension and
redevelopment of their village hall. The group have achieved the full funding package,
acquired the land and have started redevelopment work.
The North Sutherland Community Forest Trust (Sutherland) was awarded assistance to
pursue a land management agreement with Forest Enterprise over the Naver Forest. The Fund
recognises that well negotiated and documented land management agreements provide
communities with many of the advantages of actual land ownership. They also received
support to clarify the legal possibility of the group taking ownership of the Borgie
Forest. The group aims to enhance the economic opportunities for residents of the North
Sutherland area.
Finally, in a well-publicised case, the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust obtained sufficient support from both the
Scottish Land Fund and Highland and Islands Enterprise’s Community Land Unit in order
to make a credible bid for purchase of the island. These grant awards demonstrate the
flexibility that both funding sources were prepared to exercise for such an exceptional
case. The islanders have now had their offer accepted and are busy raising funds for their
contribution and as working capital for their enterprise. They will take possession of the
island on 15 March 2002.
Gigha is obviously the most significant and high profile project that the Fund has
supported to date. However, a healthy crop of projects, some of which have already
received technical assistance, are now maturing and may receive further Land Fund support
over the coming months. There are still ample resources within the Fund and officers would
be glad to hear from any rural groups who could be assisted in its aspirations for
community ownership or management of rural land or land assets.
For more information, contact
- The Scottish Land Fund
- Taigh Fearna, Auchtertyre
- Balmacara, Kyle IV40 8EG
- Tel: 01520 722 988
- Websites: www.nof.org.uk
- www.hie.co.uk (and search for Scottish
Land Fund)
- Online version of this article at www.caledonia.org.uk/socialland
