SCOTLAND, already suffering from an anachronistic system of land ownership and lack of transparency, with a few hundred aristocrats owning more than half the country, has allowed a Danish retail magnate, Anders Holch Povlsen, to become the owner of more land here than anyone else , including the Duke of Buccleuch, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Westminster ("Nation's biggest landowner splashes out again ... this time just a 1,100-acre estate", The Herald, November 2 ). His property portfolio already includes substantial parts of Perthshire, Inverness-shire, and Sutherland with such as the 42,000-acre Glenfeshie Estate and the 21,000 acre Strathmore Estate.
Mr Povlsen is doing something here which a Scot or any other foreigner is unlikely to be able to do in his homeland. While there are a few exceptions, foreigners who have not been resident in Denmark for a period of five years or more, may only purchase real property if they obtain a permission from the Danish Ministry of Justice. Other countries have also taken action to protect the national interest. In Australia, for example, agricultural policy requires sellers to advertise locally to ensure that Australians have the opportunity to purchase land ahead of foreign buyers.
Do we really want it to reach the position where even more large tracts of our land are foreign-owned? It is bad enough that large parts of it have been in the hands of a small number of aristocrats for hundreds of years.
Ian W Thomson,
38 Kirkintilloch Road, Lenzie.
SO Danish billionaire Anders Povlsen has added Kinrara Estate on the Spey to his portfolio – his 12th Highland estate now.
Highland lairds have been massive sellers as the high financial cost of maintaining these properties has combined with the feeling that "they aren’t wanted". Imagine if a Duke or one of the Highland chiefs were scooping up massive tranches of Scotland, I suspect the Scottish Government would be trying to thwart it.
The Highland lairds still remaining, in my experience, support the local Highland games and contribute to their local events. They employ Highlanders and are imbedded in their community. I don’t get the same impression from the almost entirely absentee foreigners who have been massive buyers of Scottish estates over the last 20 years.
I would love to hear that Mr Povlsen was going to employ locals, live in the Highlands and involve himself in trying to make rural Scotland thrive, but I’m not holding my breath.
Angus MacDonald,
Roshven, Lochailort, Fort William.
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