Owners of some of the largest Scottish estates fear a Zimbabwe-style land grab, according to a major landowner. Oliver Russell of the Ballindalloch estate in Banff is concerned that the Alex Salmond-led Scottish National Party may be planning to nationalise privately held land as his party cements its grip on power, or else extend the ‘right to buy’ enshrined in the 2003 Land Reform Act to non-crofted estates.

“This is what we’re worried about,” he said at a dinner to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Glenfiddich’s nearby visitor centre. “We have to be very careful.”

The 23,000 acre Ballindalloch estate has some of Scotland’s most prized salmon fishing, with a total of 26 rods on the Spey and Avon, alongside pheasant and partridge shooting and deerstalking in the 4,000 acre forest.

Russell, a scion of the Duke of Bedford’s family, married into the Macpherson-Grant clan (motto: ‘touch not the cat bot [without] a glove’ – or you’ll get scratched). He now runs the operation from the 16th century castle. The estate’s biggest recent fee-earning addition was a wind farm, set up in 2006 with 28 turbines adding 200m kilowatt hours to the national grid, enough to power 47,000 Scottish homes.

While the most dramatic land reform laws were introduced by the Labour Government of Scotland – including forced sales of estates –  it is unclear how far the SNP would support extending their terms. Early feedback from the legislation suggests that some major estates bought with Land Reform Act money in the Western Isles have cut back on investment because the locals who 'own' them no longer feel they have security of tenure and cannot justify expenses to their shareholders. 

In some cases, crofters acquired their land thanks to a grant from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and the Big Lottery Fund's Growing Community Assets Fund. The South Uist estate received £4m this way, equal to more than 90% of the purchase price. Without such support, it is unlikely that many other acquisitions could take place. And for the moment, with all budgets under pressure, it is debatable whether the SNP, or any other Scottish party, would favour spending money in this way. 

“It’s a question of whether to use public money to purchase huge amounts of rock and heather in the Highlands, or whether to refurbish a school or a hospital,” says Tim Atkinson, factor at Ballindaloch. “Another key issue is how the communities now running estates fare. Whether they can stand on their own feet or need continual funding.”