Anyone out there with £3M to spare to buy Suilven and Canisp in Sutherland? The 40,000 acre estate will be put on the market in a few weeks by the Vestey family and already the John Muir Trust are in duscussion with the Assynt crofters about the possibilities of a community buy-out. Could be interesting...
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 <bump>
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 I've just had a count through my penny jar here on my desk and I have the grand total of 46p (and for some reason 2 US cents).
It's not much but it's a start. I'll gladly send it to the JMT...
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 Time to join / donate to JMT methinks
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 Are Ben More and Conival thrown in as well?
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 Madonna will most likely buy it just to annoy any walkers out there.
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 Are there any concerns post-SOAC about who owns the land?
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Well, the JMT webshop spat me out when I tried to join & donate so I guess it's back to the traditional way of doing things...
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 SOAC = Scottish Outdoor Access Code?
One of the issues with communities buying land is that they are not necessarily always interested in making it easy for the general public to have access. Many will be, but some won't be...
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The Scottish Outdoor Access Code has now been approved by the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Natural Heritage and working on the actual production of it. As far as I'm aware there's nothing in it that will pose problems for acces in this area of Sutherland. Zubald makes a good point but the new Scottish access legislation is now cast in stone. My own slight concern with crofters having a right to buy is that fences tend to go up willy nilly on crofting land. Having said that, the Assynt Crofters who own the neighbouring property and are interested in buying this one, have a fairly good record of welcoming the public.
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Tks for the reassurance Cameron.
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 why don't the scottish gvm't allocate £3M for it. spent enough on their new parliament £3M should be a mere drop in the proverbial. quick before disney buy it as a theme-park. they could call it Scot-Land or something...
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Yeah, they could pay all the locals to wear kilts and ginger wigs and call it Brigadoon...
Not much chance of £3m coming from the Scottish parliament, although the cost of landscaping their new palace in Edinburgh is more than the total annual budgets for both Scottish National Parks...
In the current atmosphere of community buy-outs it looks as though that might be the obvious option but if the Vestey family are in selling mode perhaps they might be willing to sell Quinag as well - that might be one for the John Muir Trust???
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Perhaps TGO could use its magazine and the power of the internet get a positive campaign going here.
"WANTED. 3,000 people (£1000 each) willing to cooperatively buy blah blah blah"
Or X number of people with £X to buy the Cuillin ridge?
I think people respond better to positive campaigns.
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now, if it came with planning permission for 300 swiss-chalet style mountain huts................
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.........it would be £8M.
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ah...but we could get a grant from some sort of highland development board... think of the job opportunities it would bring..
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Agreed then.
50% grant, that leaves £750,000 each so far.
Come on people, put your money where your mouths are.
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...only if you could guarantee a funicular railway up to the top...
<barely escapes embarking on a serious rant>
<oh, Cameron, liked the latest issue BTW>
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