A 16,500-acre Angus estate has been snapped up by a Scottish Government agency in a private land deal.
But the sale of Glenprosen Estate to Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) for a rumoured £25 million has come under fire over the issue of so-called ‘green lairds’ buying up huge tracts of land.
Holyrood wants to see a clampdown on off-market sales which are blamed for driving up rural land prices.
The Scottish Conservatives have labelled the Glenprosen purchase a “backroom deal”.
The estate north of Kirriemuir sits in one of the five highland glens of Angus.
It is renowned for its grouse shooting, deer stalking and salmon fishing.
No estate comment
Estate owner Robin Batchelor has declined to comment on the sale, which is due to conclude next month.
Five jobs will be affected in the deal, but FLS say three staff have been already been offered tenancies on the estate.
And they said they were just one of several potential buyers the landowner approached.
The agency, which manages forests and lands for the Scottish Government, will focus on woodland creation and biodiversity on Glenprosen.
A spokesman said: “It is incumbent upon us to manage these resources in such a way as to maximise environmental, biodiversity and social benefits whilst also increasing our net contribution to Scotland’s climate emergency mitigation effort.
“The land owner made off-market approaches to several potential buyers, including FLS.
“We opted to bid on Glenprosen because it offered an opportunity to consolidate our wider land holding in the area.”
FLS said that presented “significant strategic advantages in helping us achieve our aims.”
FLS said that will include woodland creation and biodiversity, community wellbeing and partnership working.
“We were successful in our bid, with the legal process ongoing and scheduled to complete in November,” they added.
“There are currently five employees at Glenprosen, and FLS engaged with them as soon as we were legally able to do so.
“Three have been offered tenancies with FLS. One already resides on a neighbouring estate and will continue to do so and the fifth has taken employment elsewhere.
“FLS regularly buys and sells areas of land, including to communities across the country through our sector-leading Community Asset Transfer Scheme.”
‘Secret Scotland’ claim
Scottish Conservative Shadow Rural Affairs Secretary Rachael Hamilton MSP said: “This is a typical case of the SNP’s secret Scotland.
“They’ve expressed a desire to clamp down on these sort of sales and have promised to be transparent, yet one of their own agencies has conducted a multi-million backroom deal for a major estate.
“There is a distinct lack of any coherence right now with the SNP-Green Government’s land reform and land use strategy.
“Communities are rightly worried about their lack of forward planning.
“It simply isn’t good enough that they have completely decided to leave the public in the dark over this purchase.
“Ministers have serious questions to answer over whether they are on the same page as their agencies when it comes to land use and exactly what their intentions are.”
The Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government is committed to transparency, as the proposals in our current consultation on the next Land Reform Bill demonstrate.
“The acquisition of Glenprosen Estate by FLS offers exciting opportunities for land use change, community and partnership working, woodland creation, biodiversity and peatland restoration, consistent with Scottish Government’s climate objectives and in line with the Bute House Agreement.”
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