Arran tenant farmer set to be evicted by Charles Fforde

The Voice has regularly reported on the dire story of land ownership in Scotland, under the heading ‘Land Matters’. Now we have a prime example close to home.

Lesley Riddoch in The National describes how John Paterson, 34, has been the tenant of Glenree farm on Arran for 15 years. His father Jim, originally from Ayrshire, moved the family over to Arran in 1996 to take on the lease for the 5,000-acre livestock farm with a ten-year limited partnership, which was then passed on to his son John and renewed on an annual basis. In 2003, John became a secure tenant courtesy of Scottish Government legislation.

However there was a major flaw in the drafting of the legislation, and on November 28, the Paterson brothers and their family will become the next set of Scottish farmers dealing with homelessness and eviction, seven months after the passage of a Land Reform Act that did nothing to tackle their specific situation.

The family had a meeting at the farm with landowner Charles Fforde and were told they must leave on that date in November, and that another lease was not up for discussion.

Nor is there any guarantee of compensation despite the fact John and his father have made substantial improvements to the land and farmstead during their 21 years as tenants – they’ve put up sheds, built a slatted house for cows, a silage pit, new sheep handling facilities, erected tens of thousands of metres of fencing and made environmental improvements.

For the full story click here.

There is a petition that you can sign here.