By Rohese Devereux Taylor

A CHARITY with plans to create a new nature reserve in the Scottish Borders has been awarded a £1 million boost to put towards a historic land buyout.

The Langholm Initiative wants to buy 10,500 acres of land including part of Langholm Moor near the Borders town to create the reserve to boost tourism in the area as part of what has been called “the biggest community land buyout in the south of Scotland”.

The funding comes as another organisation, the Newcastleton and District Community Trust (NDCT), was awarded funds to purchase 750 acres of land known as Holm Hill – adjacent to Newcastleton village –from the Duke of Buccleuch’s Borders Estate.

Funding for these land buyouts has been welcomed as a ‘major milestone’.

As well as the nature reserve, the Langholm Initiative plan to create renewable energy projects on the land and are currently embarking on a crowdfunding appeal for a further

£2 million to secure the community buyout.

Buccleuch -- which comprises the business interests of the Buccleuch Family– announced its decision to sell 25,000 acres of the famous Langholm Moor last year.

A joint valuation, undertaken by independent valuers working for each of the parties, estimated the value of the land to be just over £6m.

Langholm, a traditional textile town, has seen decades of economic decline through the loss of textile manufacturing.

The Langholm Initiative says the prospective buyout provides the community with the chance “to decide its own future for the first time”.

The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area for breeding Hen Harriers, the UK’s most persecuted bird of prey.

The ambition of the community has received widespread support from politicians and wildlife organisations.

Margaret Pool, chair of the Langholm Initiative said: “The Langholm Initiative very much appreciates the offer of a £1 million award from the Scottish Land Fund and, although this is well below the £3 million we applied for, we recognise these are difficult times.

“As the award is time limited, giving us only until October this year to raise the rest of the money, we face the challenging task of raising the rest of the funds.

“But Langholm Moor holds huge cultural significance to the people of Langholm, and we’re working tirelessly to bring this part of the moor into community ownership as part of a ground-breaking project to tackle climate change, boost nature restoration, and support community regeneration.”

Steve Hartley, chair of the NDCT, said: “The last 12 months has seen a mammoth amount of work undertaken by many people to get us to where we are today, the culmination of all that work results in being awarded the capital to purchase land adjacent to our village. “Community ownership of this land, much of it still used today as it was over 225 years ago, now gives us all a bigger, brighter, sustainable future.

“This will continue to include farming, but the community also wants to develop new leisure and renewable sectors spreading the benefits of community ownership to everyone who lives here.”

Benny Higgins, executive chairman at Buccleuch, said: “When we announced in May last year that we wanted to sell property on the Borders Estate, we were fully committed to engaging with local communities. Today’s announcement of funding for both the NDCT and the Langholm Initiative is a major milestone for that process.

“Both groups have different ideas of what they want to achieve but have shared a tenacity and willingness to cooperate that has made the discussions an enjoyable process.

“Newcastleton & District Community Trust will be finalising their purchase with us very soon and we congratulate them on that achievement.

“There is still some work to be done on the Langholm Initiative buyout and we hope that their crowdfunding campaign will be a success.

“Both parties have jointly agreed a purchase price and we hope this sale can be realised in the coming months.”