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management - A mix of Stewardship.
Honesty, reality and accountability
Paper presented at the 4th annual conference
Scottish Countryside Alliance
"Who should run the countryside?
Rural Scotland 2006"
Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh
25th April 2006
Gordon Robertson
General Manager, Balnagown Estate
Filed 17 May 2006
©www.land-care.org.uk
Thank you for inviting me to address this important
conference. I’ve got 15 minutes and I want to make the most
of the opportunity. Hence my title is Honesty, Reality and Accountability.
I speak as three things;
as the current General Manager of the Balnagown
Estate.
as a Chartered Surveyor who has spent the last
30 years working in rural land management.
as the son of an Orcadian farmer’s son,
who in 1930 left to seek employment abroad. He isn’t the
eldest son, and farm incomes (like today) were limited.
Gordon Robertson
General Manager, Balnagown Estate
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Photo©Kimpton Graphics
Balnagown Estate
Let me start by telling you about Balnagown.
The lands of Balnagown extended to some 800,000
acres several centuries ago. The seat of the Clan Ross, the estate
dwindled over the years and in 1972 Mr Al Fayed bought all that
remained - a run down castle and 12 acres.
Today the estate amounts to 65,000 acres, with
the castle restored and a mix of enterprises contributing to the
running costs. The land runs from the shores of the Cromarty Firth,
gently rising via the Dornoch Firth towards the rugged moorland
of Ben More Assynt in Sutherland.
Since acquisition, Mr Al Fayed has invested £20
million and until recent years the annual deficit in running costs
has been between £600,000 and £800,000.
The estate has its own in-hand lowland arable
farming enterprise. It also has a mixed stock farm that produces
beef and lamb, most of which ends up on the butcher's counter in
Harrods.
We have 5 Star holiday cottages and lodges, we
let 70 Red Stags a year from Duchally Lodge, and some Sika stalking
in woodland areas.
Salmon fishing on the River Oykel is let in conjunction
with Inveroykel Lodge.
There are farms let on full agricultural tenancies,
numerous crofts, two quarries, and forestry plantations which are
more a liability than an asset.
The estate planted 900 hectares of native woodland
in 2000.
Honesty, reality and accountability
It is a fact that farming, forestry, shooting
and fishing rarely balance the books. The average ownership of a
Highland estate extends to some 12 years. Yet another estate –
Tressady – is on the market.
The ones that have lasted for centuries are the
ones that have external sources of finance, and owners who have
invested in their infrastructure by creating local businesses and
developing a housing stock for let to local people.
Even for a wealthy man, it is hard to justify
forking out a half a million pounds a year just to stand still.
Other than the usual farming and forestry grants, Mr Al Fayed has
never looked to the state for funding.
In 2002 we took further steps to finding alternative
sources of income with a view to making the estate self financing,
and creating thriving businesses and employment opportunities. The
purchase of the Falls of Shin Visitor Centre, adjacent to possibly
the best place in Scotland to see salmon leap throughout the summer,
has put a vital piece of jigsaw on the table.
250,000 visitors now come to this remote site.
It’s been good for the estate, good for local employment and
good for the community where other businesses have grown up on the
back of it. All the costs of this investment have been met by Mr
Al Fayed, and because he has wee shop in London, we aim to have
a permanent video link of the Falls in Harrods, sending the message
down South -
"This is happening now in Scotland –
get up there."
However, we need five Falls of Shin to make the
business viable. We are planning to build an Inn with accommodation,
we are looking at building houses for sale, long let, affordable,
shared equity schemes. We have submitted a planning application
for a 25-turbine wind farm - hasn’t everyone? - on a remote
part of the estate.
We will be planting a 12-acre maize maze, a sweetcorn
maze, on the the A9 as a summer visitor attraction. We have commenced
plans to develop a redundant oilrig into a major visitor centre
and hotel/restaurant on the Cromarty Firth; the only one in the
world. We are encouraging small groups to help the Head keeper with
deer feeding (more for educational purposes rather than a financial
return) and we are also looking at ways of developing our beef,
lamb and venison to the local market under the Balnagown brand label.
Someone did tell me that if you took all the beef
that is available in Scotland today it would keep Macdonald's going
for 11 days. So we are a small market; it’s a quality market
and we’ve got to promote it correctly.
There are numerous other projects that we are
developing, but time does not allow me to go into too much detail.
The point of my spelling out some of the things we are involved
with is to state what does not appear to be obvious to many people
outwith this room. Namely, ownership of land is a serious responsibility.
The reason so many people sell up and move away is that they do
not have the means to manage their land properly.
I share Mr Al Fayed's view that nobody actually
owns anything. You are a tenant for life, with a duty to leave what
you have in a better state than you found it.
I do believe we have to cut away much of the bureaucracy,
historical (and hysterical) prejudice, and red tape, and we need
to simplify, justify and produce a clear vision. Rather like the
Highway Code, we need to have a workable clear set of guidelines
that prevents us all bumping into each other.
Land Reform took place because our urban-based
politicians did not understand how the countryside was managed and
funded. Landowners, tenants and managers had gone about their business
without seeking a pat on the back, but also without telling the
urban world of their roles as rural stewards. The Bill was expensive
and created a sense of mistrust that still exists in some quarters.
Of course there were and are bad landowners managers,
tenants, and users, but the majority are good, and are major investors
in Scotland. Every sector of society has problem areas, but the
sledgehammer to crack a nut approach, in my opinion, was an expensive
folly. How much better to have focused on the good practice, and
concentrated on sorting out those few areas of bad practice once
and for all, with all sectors of those involved in land management
working together to a common goal.
Let me explain what I mean, with a few examples
of how out of touch some of our decision-makers are.
Deer
Prior to the Bill being enacted, I took an MSP
from the central belt on a tour of the estate and explained how
it was managed. I spent time explaining why 70 red stags were shot
annually to maintain an agreed balance within the population on
our land. This was a culling programme; no trophy heads. On returning
to the car, the MSP thanked me, but said that on the subject of
the deer he felt it was so cruel. And so when I said,
"What do you mean by that?"
he said:
"From what you’ve said, you actually
wait for the poor deer to stand still before they are shot. You
could at least clap your hands to give it a sporting chance."
This was the man who would shortly be casting
his vote on country matters.
The Hunting Bill
I make no comment on the rights or wrongs of hunting,
but hunting has now been banned. More people hunt than ever before.
A Bill - I’m going to say it because most people think it
- pushed through by an alcoholic, now residing in prison for setting
fire to the curtains in a hotel whilst people slept above him, and
who then said -
"It was nae me!"
Gosh it makes me proud to have a Scottish legislator
of such depth.
Agricultural Tenancy Reform
This was supposed to open up opportunities for
land to be let; to give youngsters a chance to get on the farming
ladder. This Reform has killed the market stone dead. It’s
easy enough to let a unit on an industrial estate: why can’t
we apply some of these simple solutions to agricultural land.
Single Farm Payments
Not to attach agricultural subsidies to the land
is sheer madness. You can sell your farm, croft or estate and retire
to the sun with your subsidy as your pension. The in-comer has to
manage the land without any subsidy.
All the out-goer has to do (wherever he or she
might be) is find a Scottish hillside -perfectly legally - with
a holding number, and attach it to one of his numerous forms to
continue claiming the money. He need never ever visit the site,
and certainly need never farm it.
Can you justify that ? I can’t.
We have to live in the real world. Land management
is a business, it’s not a myth.
Bannockburn, Culloden, and the Clearances are
things of the past, and in the past they should remain. Co-operation
should always be preferable to confrontation. But as we analyse
how to use Scotland’s precious funds wisely (don’t mention
the Parliament buildings) we need to return to facts, the truth
and accountability.
Crofting as an example
We have numerous crofts on the Balnagown Estate.
The rents have not been reviewed since acquisition in 1972. The
average rent is 38 pence per acre. We have not interfered with the
crofting way of life; we have tried to be supportive. Many of the
crofters, I am happy to say, are my friends.
However, there is a sector of society, some of
whom work in Hollyrood, who compare crofters to the aborigines of
Australia. The fact is that crofters are some of the most privileged
members of the rural society.
Substantial grants over the years have enabled
houses to be built, buildings to be constructed, fencing and drainage
to be carried out all at the taxpayer's expense. Great! How a city
dweller would like to be treated in the same way!
I recognise that a croft on a barren west coast
hillside hardly compares to a croft on fertile arable land surrounding
a developing village. But the occupancy of a croft has now become
so valuable that comparisons can now be drawn between the transfer
dealings in the Premier League. I know of six crofts last year (not
on Balnagown ) that changed hands for a bung of over £50,000.
One bung was for over £100,000. If this practice is going
on, let’s talk about it openly. The loser is the crofting
ideal.
What chance has a young crofter got of securing
a tenancy when a developer can stump up the bung that enables him
to move into a croft, sell a plot or two to get his entrance fee
back and have a home with land attached worth many hundreds of thousands
of pounds. This is very different from the picture that is normally
painted. How positive it would be if some of that money went back
into a crofting system for this century. I’m delighted that
Dr Jim Hunter and Brian Wilson are almost saying the same thing.
Conclusion
In anticipation of Alastair Macaskill’s
talk on the Assynt Foundation, I suggest that the management of
land in Scotland, from the smallest field to the largest estate,
should be carried out with a mix of ownership, but with a clear
responsibility for a common code of sound stewardship.
As a tax payer, with a child in the local education
system that is crying out for inward investment, a 90 year old mother
in an under-staffed hospital, in an area where you cannot build
a house because Scottish Water cannot provide the services required,
I urge the Scottish Executive not to discourage private, responsible
investment in this great country. We need inward investment, working
to realistic budgets and strict financial controls. (Not to mention
the Parliament buildings again.)
The Community buy out of the land owned by the
Assynt Foundation must encourage us, and I’m sure Alastair
will reassure us - and as taxpayers we need to be re-assured - that
this is the right use of desperately scarce national resources.
For the land purchased by the Assynt Foundation,
I am aware that only 45% of those entitled to vote within the community
voted in favour of community acquisition. The estate was bought
for £2.9 million of which £2.1million came from the
Land Fund.
We looked at the estate when it first came on
to the market. Even with Mr Al Fayed’s capital resources,
try as I might, I could not come up with a way of balancing the
books. A remote mountainous area of land, with an unfurnished lodge,
no fishing of any worth, lots of midges and a stock of deer. Conservation
work costs, deer management and stalking costs. Even the feasibility
study carried out by Graeme Scott & Co, Chartered Accountants,
prior to acquisition, demonstrated that without grants and further
government funding the estate would run at a loss.
This is not personal Alastair, and I will be hugely
relieved to hear that this investment by the Scottish Executive,
your conservation partners and the people of Scotland is to reap
a return. You are fortunate in not having to pay interest on the
capital required for the purchase. You are also fortunate that the
Scottish Land Fund has paid for your newly appointed Development
Manager’s costs. I look forward to hearing how the management
and further investment of this tract of land is to be undertaken
without funds.
I genuinely wish the Foundation well and I hope
you prove my caution wrong.
As I said at the start, I have spent all of my
working life involved with management of land and estates for numerous
owners and institutions, constantly trying to balance the books
in the interests of sustainability, community and good practice
for the next generation.
I still have a lot to learn. I still remain hugely
optimistic for the future of land management. I think days like
today are positive and healthy, and whilst questions are asked and
problems are aired, we are all calling for the same thing - a mixed,
vibrant, economically sound countryside where businesses thrive
and feel secure for the long term.
As landowners, users, tenants and managers, we
need to do more to explain what we do, for make no mistake it is
a business.
We need to educate this generation for the sake
of the next.
Beef comes from cows, not from Tesco's
At a recent talk to a group of 16-year-old schoolchildren
in Inverness, I asked how many of them had visited the Falls of
Shin to see the salmon leap. One girl put her hand up and said:
‘No, no I won’t go up there ‘cause
of the bears!’
Nobody laughed, and it’s really worrying.
To her credit she’d seen a National Geographic programme and
thought this was Canada. We’ve got some work to do.
So let’s hold hands rather than wave fists.
Let us be open and honest and admit when we make mistakes, applaud
when we hear others have succeeded.
We are in this together. I would say we are a
true Countryside Alliance.
Thank you very much.
©www.land-care.org.uk
Further reading recommended by Land-Care
 Andrews,
Tony (2006)." Who should run the countryside? Rural Scotland
2006."
4th Annual Conference, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh,
25th April 2006
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 04 May 06,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Here to View
Hoey,
Kate (2006). Chairman, Countryside Alliance. "Who should run
the countryside? Rural Scotland 2006."
4th Annual Conference, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh,
25th April 2006
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 08 May 06,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Here to View
Stevenson,
Struan (2006). "Big government in the countryside". 4th
Annual Conference, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh,
25th April 2006: "Who should run the countryside? Rural Scotland
2006".
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 09 May 06,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Here to View
Miers,
Tom (2006). Chief Executive, The Policy Institute. "Who should
run the countryside? Rural Scotland 2006."
4th Annual Conference, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh,
25th April 2006
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 15 May 06,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Here to View
Jardine,
Ian (2006). Chief Executive, Scottish Natural Heritage. "Who
should run the countryside? Rural Scotland 2006."
4th Annual Conference, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh,
25th April 2006
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 16 May 06,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Here to View
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer
Land-Care is grateful to Tony Andrews, CEO
Scottish Countryside Alliance, and to Dick Playfair of Playfair
Walker for the invitation to attend the conference in a media capacity,
the opportunity to participate in both formal and informal discussion,
and for their help in providing Land-Care with transcripts of the
papers presented.
No responsibility for errors or omissions
in the transcription process can be taken by SCA, Playfair Walker
or Land-Care.
Kimpton Graphics is a division of Land-Care.
Finis
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