Prepare for action, Wilson tells other communities
Brian Wilson MP, currently UK Trade Minister and a long-standing advocate of
land reform, last week urged crofting communities to "start organising now" in
order to be in a position to take advantage of the Government's proposals
immediately after legislation.
Speaking at the hand-over of Bhaltos Estate to the local crofting trust he
described it as "another significant stepping-stone towards an entirely
different, and infinitely superior, pattern of land ownership and management in
the Highlands and Islands."
He continued: "What is being achieved in Bhaltos, through the generosity and
goodwill of the previous owner, will soon be available as of right to every
crofting community in the Highlands and Islands. That is the crucial commitment
contained in the Government's land reform proposals."
"Nobody should underestimate the radicalism of that policy. It strikes at the
heart of the free market in land which has done so much damage to the Highlands
and Islands. It opens up the potential for communities, like this one, at long
last to develop their natural assets for the benefit of all."
"But precisely because it strikes at the heart of an unjust system, it will be
tenaciously opposed by those whose vested interest is in maintaining the status
quo. During the process of transforming the commitment into legislation, the
Government will have to resist the bluster, threats and special pleading which
are already flowing from the landowning fraternity."
"The most effective pressure group in support of the change to which we are
committed will consist of a growing movement of crofting trusts, like the one
which now exists here in Uig, and which are poised ready to implement the
legislation as soon as it is on the statute book."
"Uig is an excellent example of how that approach can operate. While Bhaltos
will now be run by and for the local community, all the rest of this area will
continue to suffer the dead hand and petty tyrannies of absentee private
landlordism. In Uig as in the Highlands and Islands as a whole, Bhaltos is not
the end of a process but merely its beginning."
Mr Wilson said: "I am interested to note that the market price of estates is
already in a state of free-fall because of the promised legislation. That will
facilitate a rapid process of transition. Now is the time for every community
which will have the right to buy, on the basis of a fair and independently-set
valuation, to start preparing to do exactly that."
"Now is the time to take stock of the unfulfilled potential and the
opportunities which will open up, and to start planning for the future. Already,
we are seeing that happening in Bhaltos - the same process which has evolved in
Assynt, Eigg, Abriachan and other communities which have become masters of their
own destinies."
"Taken in conjunction, the philosophy and practical application of Iomairt air
an Oir, (Initiative on the Edge) allied to the forthcoming legislation on land
and the current role of HIE's Community Land Unit, offer transformed prospects
for communities such as the one we are in tonight. The opportunities exist and
together we must now seize them."
"This is the unfinished business of the Crofting Reform Acts and of the struggle
which land raiders in Reef and many other places embarked on in the early part
of this century. It must be seen through to a conclusion and the only people who
can ensure the outcome are those who have committed their lives and their
children's futures to communities such as this."
© West Highland Free Press www.whfp.com
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