In the 16 years that I have taken a more than passive interest in
community land buy-outs, starting with the Isle of Eigg in 1996/7, I
have never seen such a ludicrous situation as what has arisen in South
Uist in recent times.
I refer to the article on Hebrides News for details.
The purpose of this blogpost is to question the use (and I have
difficulty not prefixing “use” with the letters M, I and S) of the
staggering amount of two hundred thousand pounds in legal fees to
resolve a dispute between Stòras and a crofting tenant.
Rather than come to a private, amicable settlement, things had to go
to court. That happens, also in Lewis, where I am based. Even close
relatives take each other to court over land issues, and senior law
practitioners get involved in those too. However, Stòras is a landowner,
who had a dispute with one of its tenants.
Nonetheless, I question the use of this vast sum of money in legal
fees, in spite of a local petition (which went round the estate in 2010)
to drop the action.
This sordid episode marks a low point in the modern history of community buy-outs, in my opinion.
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