Pairc landlord wants negotiations without hostile bid leaders 7/7/11
Pairc landlord Barry Lomas is urging residents on the South Lochs estate to form
a breakaway delegation and negotiate an amicable buyout of the land -
Mr Lomas said: “Pairc Estate is in the same position as the Pairc community, having to wait whilst politicians and Pairc Trust abuse the possibilities of an amicable estate transfer with their continued campaign of hostile actions under the land reform legislation, the latest ploy being that of Ministers setting in motion a number of Court hearings which will continue over the coming year or so.”
He stressed: “Pairc Estate continues to welcome expressions of interest from people who would like to explore the future outside the Act and without the baggage of the last eight years.”
The legal row over the hostile bid to take over the crofting estate is hopping between different courts.
The case was in the Court of Session yesterday as Pairc landlord Barry Lomas wants
judges to carry out a judicial review of the way the Scottish Government granted
the controversial right-
But it switches to Stornoway Sheriff Court in in two weeks before beign passed back to the Edinburgh court.
Warring sides have to sort out legal procedures first before the substance of the legal arguments get a proper airing.
Last month sheriff David Sutherland ruled the Court of Session should first rule on the thorny question if the Land Reform Act breaches individuals’ human rights under European laws.
That could take years but only then would a raft of other disputes over the validity
of the crofters’ ballot, the unreasonableness of the right-
The forced land sale legislation has never been used in anger since it was introduced by the former Labour administration. Elements were seriously flawed which badly hampered the Pairc bid and required corrective legislation.
Ironically, nobody actually lives on the 20,000 acres of boggy moorland being fought over but at stake is the control of potentially lucrative profits from a £110 million wind farm.
Residents have declined to buy out the croftland villages, opting, instead, for the houseless common grazings.
The ground presently has little value expect as rough pasture for livestock but Scottish and Southern Energy's application to build a giant windfarm has dramatically raised the odds.