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Great news! Glenfeshie
Estate, 42,000 acres of wilderness in the Cairngorms has been sold, and remains
in private hands. The estate,
believed to be valued at about £8million, has been a model of good
environmental practice under a series of private owners in recent years.
However many politicians have campaigned to nationalise it. The Danish owner Klaus Helmersen sold it to fellow countryman Flemming Skouboe, who recently sold a successful business making blades for windmills. Skouboe already owns a Danish island where he has promoted green policies, and has promised to continue the conservation and environmental work being carried out on the estate. This is clearly good news. In brief, private landlords bring in new money and are more accountable, follow more diverse policies and take a longer-term view than politicians. Click here for more details. Unfortunately a few Scottish busybodies don’t think so
and want to nationalise it. Scottish
National Heritage, the Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and
the National Trust for Scotland wanted to get together to “hold it in trust
for the nation”. Bill
Wright of the Cairngorms campaign claims it has been overgrazed by deer under
private ownership, although he also admits it remains “the jewel in the crown
of Scottish mountain estates.” Roseanna
Cunningham MSP, the Scottish National Party’s land reform spokeswoman is also
pressing for nationalisation. It is important to resist this pressure and preserve private ownership of this sort of estate. According to Bill Wright all other estates of similar importance are in some form or another in state ownership, either directly or via a QANGO or state-subsidized charity. Under Helmersen's ownership the estate had entered into a
series of land management agreements including a woodland grant agreement with
the Forestry Commission worth £150,000 in the first five years. The Glenfeshie estate has been set up as a model of an
environmentally friendly estate and contains remains of the ancient Caledonian
Forest. The area was a
favourite of Queen Victoria - and provided the setting for Sir Edwin Henry
Landseer's 19th Century painting Monarch of the Glen. Jim Thornton 6 Jan 2002 |
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