RESIDENTS in Scotland’s highest village are ready to take on the UK’s largest landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch, in a buyout bid.
Villagers in Wanlockhead, nestled in the uplands of Dumfries and Galloway, held a public meeting at the weekend in the local community centre to discuss whether the village would be better off under community ownership.
Representatives of Community Land Scotland and the Scottish Government also attended the meeting to give advice.
Locals presented their plans to transform the village into a tourism centre, capitalise on its mining heritage and provide multiple recreational opportunities on the Lowther Hills.
Dreams of a community buyout came after the neighbouring village Leadhills started the same process back in 2014 and recent plans emerged that could see up to 140 turbines located in the area.
The next step for the group would be to create a community company for the proposed buyout. It would then be tasked with registering an interest in buying the land within the current legislation.
A spokesman for the community buyout said: “Many feel the landowner has not done enough to provide opportunities for economic development in the village.
“The hills around Wanlockhead are run primarily as a moor for grouse shooting.
“The organisers of the meeting confirmed that villagers had already provided well over the 10 per cent legally required support to create a community company, which will be tasked with registering an interest to buy the land within the current legislation.”
South of Scotland MSP Claudia Beamish told the audience that forthcoming legislation will help communities like Wanlockhead to put forward successful buyout bids.
She said locals had “highlighted an inspiring range of opportunities for the future” and added: “If the community buyout goes ahead, decision-making will be in the hands of the people who live there”.
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