Cash returns rising under community ownership

A NEW generation of landowners are making a bigger killing from hunting, shooting and fishing estates than the traditional lairds they replaced, according to a leading academic.

Professor James Hunter believes large tracts of the Highlands and Islands are now on a better commercial footing under community ownership than they were in private hands.

But he has warned that critics are waiting for one of the takeovers to fail so they can claim the entire movement is invalid.

Prof Hunter, a historian and former chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), was until recently director of the University of the Highlands and Islands' Centre for History.

He has been commissioned by the Carnegie UK Trust and HIE to write a report on the rise of community land owners who now control more than 500,000 acres across Scotland.

Prof Hunter said: "I have been pleasantly surprised by how well its gone and that none of the (community-owned) estates have collapsed financially.

"Given the politics of this, if one of them or more should get into financial difficulty it could be seen by some people no doubt to invalidate the whole approach."

He said that in many cases the financial return from traditional hardcore business like shooting and fishing is better than it was before.