(233)  SELLING MOUNTAINS AND THE COMMUNITY RIGHT TO BUY

On 9 July 2003 it was announced that the Black Cuillin range in Skye, which had been put on the market in March 2000 by John MacLeod of Macleod, 29th chief of his clan, in order to finance the renovation of his ancestral home at Dunvegan Castle (see No 80), was no longer for sale and would instead be given to the nation.  In return, the repairs at Dunvegan would be funded by a variety of public and charitable bodies, such as Highland Council, Highland and Islands Enterprise, and the John Muir Trust.  On the same day it was confirmed that negotiations for a community buy out under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 were under way in relation to a number of estates in South Uist, Eriskay and Benbecula, which thus join the estate of Galson in North Lewis in this respect.