£10m lottery cash for rural areas

Lottery cash will help fund community purchase of land

People hoping to buy out their landowners will be able to seek National Lottery cash backing for their bid, Justice Minister Jim Wallace confirmed on Monday.

Nearly £11m in lottery cash will be available through the Scottish Land Fund, created to regenerate rural communities in Scotland.

It will award grants to buy land for projects with social, economic and environmental benefits for communities.

The idea is linked to the Scottish Executive's planned legislation for a community right-to-buy scheme, under which rural communities will gain the right to seek to buy local land when it comes up for sale.

Jim Wallace: Plans apply to the whole of the country

Mr Wallace said the scheme offered practical help in turning right-to-buy into reality.

He said: "This initiative is for all Scotland, not just north or south.

"It's flexible enough to work across a wide range of projects, as diverse as crofters buying private estates under new legislation, buying fishing rights on a river, or buying and providing play areas for the children of a community.

"Community ownership will make a real difference to the lives of the people living in these areas."

David Campbell, of the Scottish Land Fund, told BBC Scotland's Reporting Scotland programme: "Since we announced last year that we were setting up the fund, there has been a tremendous amount of interest."

David Campbell: High level of interest

The move comes just days after the Scottish Executive unveiled its draft Land Reform Bill which seeks to give rural communities and crofters a legal right to buy the land they work on and depend on for a living.

Land ownership became a high-profile political issue north of the Border, after struggles between local people and landowners in Eigg, Assynt and Knoydart.

The Scottish Land Fund's £10m budget will not stretch to buying too many major estates.

For example, the Cuillins on Skye were put on the market last year with a £10m price tag attached.

'Sustainable'

But it is hoped the lottery cash will underwrite land purchases and pay for professional advice and business expertise.

Mr Wallace described the draft Land Reform Bill, unveiled last week, as a "significant milestone in the executive's land reform programme".

He said that rural communities would be given "sustainable" futures through a new legal right to buy which would allow them collectively to own, work and develop land.

This same right would also be extended to crofting communities, allowing them to buy land at any time and not just when it comes up for sale.

However, ramblers and landowners criticised the bill for failing to address key issues and both groups are set to lobby for major amendments during the consultation period.