Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Pairc buy-out

The latest twist in the tortuous proceedings of the Pairc buy-out has occurred. The Court of Session in Edinburgh has ruled that the community buy-out plans do NOT, as alleged by landowner Barry Lomas, infringe the landowner’s human rights. The next step in this seemingly endless wrangle will be a ruling by a sheriff at Stornoway Sheriff Court whether the ballot by the community in South Lochs on the proposed buy-out was flawed, or not. This is expected to happen in January.

The buy-out relates to unoccupied common land, away from the villages on the Pairc peninsula. In itself, this is not worth a lot, but a proposed windfarm could propel its value (currently unknown) into the millions of pounds.

A vote to investigate the possibility of mounting a community buy-out of the Pairc estate was taken in November 2004. A ballot in favour of mounting a hostile buy-out bid was taken in December 2009, making it the first instance of a hostile buy-out under the right-to-buy legislation, enacted in 2003.

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