Chairman's Report
I would like to thank Alastair Macaskill - Assynt Foundation, Neil Ross - Scottish Land Fund, Colin Gray, Margaret Rankeillor and Richard Frew - SEERAD, John Bruce - HC, Graeme Scott, Steve Westbrook, Duncan Bryden, Kirsty Macleod - Consultants, Nigel Hawkins - John Muir Trust and Munro & Noble Solicitors, for their friendly advice, co-operation and assistance over the past six months.
When the Vestey Trust put the Drumrunie Forest Estate up for sale on the open market, a public meeting was held in the Coigach Community Hall, Achiltibuie on Monday the 13th of September 2004 to establish whether the members of the Community would be in favour of registering a Community Interest in the land with the Minister at SEERAD. The meeting was not well attended and there was a low level of support for the suggestion that a Steering Group should be formed to follow up the project. In the event, a steering group of three was formed at the meeting.
The Steering Group's remit, was to (a) form a Company Limited by Guarantee (b) register a Community Interest in the Land (c) appoint an Independent Consultant to carry out a feasibility study on a potential Community Buy Out of the land and to report the results to the Community.
Under the terms of the Act, because the land had been offered for sale prior to the Community registering an interest, the Community application would be classified as a "Late Application" and would need to be supported by significantly more than the 10% (ten percent) usually required. For this reason, the Steering Group conducted a postal ballot of the Community and provided documented proof to the Minister that one hundred and ten people, 54% (fifty-four percent) of the Community members balloted, supported the application.
Against all the odds a Community Interest in the Land was successfully registered with SEERAD on the 22nd of December 2004, one of only five successful applications in Scotland to date, and uniquely the first ever parallel registration; the Assynt Foundation have also registered an interest in the Estate.
At the beginning of January 2005 SEERAD instructed the District Valuer to report on the value of the Estate and we were required to submit our written representations to the Valuer by the 21st of January. A summary of the Consultant's interim feasibility study report with our comments added was submitted to the District Valuer who will publish his valuation report by the 3rd of February at the latest.
368 (three hundred and sixty eight) members of the wider Drumrunie Communities will receive a postal ballot paper within the next few days with which they can cast their vote for or against the Community continuing with the right to buy process. The ballot paper will include summaries of the Valuer's report and the Consultant's report.
The land in question has no intrinsic value but there are many other reasons to be considered before reaching a decision on whether or not it would be an asset or a liability to the Community, e.g.;
· Would it be possible to create new crofts on the land? Probably not, because it is in a Special Area of Conservation.
· Could the Estate be run financially as a going concern? Probably not, because most of Drumrunie is designated under the EU Habitats Directive and is described as the Inverpolly Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
· Could the Estate be considered an appreciating land asset? No, because the Community can only dispose of it freely to a charitable organisation.
· Is there much potential for future development opportunities? Not a lot, because of the restrictions imposed by many National and International preservation designations etc.
· Is there any potential for the development of affordable housing on the land? Probably not, there would likely be a flood of objections to any planning application.
This initiative has been criticised by various members of the community with comments such as, "it is a land grab", "the land is too far away to be local", "the purchase will take money out of the economy", and "the land is not part of our heritage", "this is Nationalisation through the back door" etc.
However, at the end of the day and taking the foregoing points and many other negatives into consideration, it would definitely be in the wider public interest for this Community to exercise the right to buy, e.g.;
· Community ownership would secure the land from commercial risk management and financial speculators.
· SNH, the Deer Commission, the John Muir Trust, the Highland Council, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Forestry Commission and many other preservation and conservation bodies will be happy to provide the technical and financial assistance necessary for the management of the land.
· Future generations of this Community and the wider public will be likely to applaud the foresight that has been shown in reaching our decision.
· For the first time since the Clan Chiefs started selling off land that did not belong to them, local people will be in control of what happens to a part of their rightful heritage.
The sole object of this exercise has been to ensure that the Community would be given the chance to have a say in what happens to a significant part of our natural heritage in the Parish of Lochbroom, (our Parish and our electoral ward), not a remote piece of land in another County. The Vestey Trust has the option to take the Estate off the market but the Community Registration is valid for five years and can be renewed at that time.
Now that we have reached the ballot stage, my work is done and I will retire as a Director and Chairman at this AGM. I am pleased to hand over the tasks of raising funding to buy the land, or winding up the Company, whichever the case may be, to a younger generation, and wish I them well in their future endeavours on behalf of the Community.
Bill Mullin.