Latest news with #Poets'Neuk
The Herald Scotland
05-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Inside the legal battle for Poets' Neuk in St Andrews
It was first gifted to the town by Mary, Queen of Scots before her abdication in 1567, and was once the site of a medieval Greyfriars monastery chapel. For the best part of two decades a community group has been seeking to acquire the plot and transform it into a poetry garden, complete with a statue of the monarch. Plans for the poetry garden (Image: Poets' Neuk) Under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act of 2016, community bodies have the power to apply to the Scottish Government to exercise a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on land or a building for sustainable development. Poets' Neuk applied under the act to buy the land and turn it into a community garden. Ministers backed the application but landowner Forthtay Ltd, a trust controlled by Isle of Man based Optimus Fiduciaries, lodged an appeal alleging "apparent bias" toward the community group and accusing ministers of acting unlawfully. This week though, Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith concluded that ministers had acted lawfully in their decision, paving the way for the sale to go ahead. Graham Wynd, chair of Poets' Group, tells The Herald: "The garden's been an eyesore for a very long time. 'Originally the St Andrews Preservation Trust campaigned and exhorted the owner of the land to clear it up, the council tried to do the same. Read More: 'Then we decided that the thing to do would be to try and buy the land so we got in touch with the owner and offered well above market rate for the land - still he refused." In 2018 the group secured a pre-emptive right to buy, but that only forced Optimus Fiduciaries not to sell to any other groups - it was under no obligation to sell at all. Mr Wynd explains: "We put in a lot of effort, the owner claimed he was already selling the land to someone else, or was on the brink of a sale. "As soon as you put in an application, that puts a stop on any buying or selling of the land. The owner was claiming to be in a position where he was just about to sell it, and that by applying for a community right to buy we'd put a stop on the sale. 'The way the government deals with that is to go through an accelerated process, which is more stringent. We got to the end of that process and the government awarded us the right to buy. 'The owner, as we soon discovered he was entitled to do, simply refused to deal with us." With the owners refusing to sell, Poets' Neuk applied under section five of the act for a CPO. The plot of land in question (Image: Google) In May 2024 it was granted, the first time the power had been used, but Optimus Fiduciaries instantly lodged an appeal at Dundee Sheriff Court. The grounds for the appeal were based on ministers not having applied the test of there being a 'substantial benefit' to the community, rather than merely a 'benefit'; that they did not consider the benefits of not selling the land; that the CPO was in breach of article 1 protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights which states "every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions"; that the Scottish Government was 'unduly influenced' by the wider implications of a successful compulsory purchase order which it described as "a serious, fatal, failure of impartiality"; and that ministers had not taken regeneration adequately into account given the proposal by the owners to build a café. The appeals were all rejected. Mr Wynd said: "We were confident we could meet the requirements, certainly in our opinion, but there was so much scrutiny that you can never be confident. "I really cannot understand the accusation of bias. We have found the civil servants to be very helpful but scrupulously careful not to exercise bias toward us or the owner – sometimes we felt they were perhaps a little too cool with us! 'The government scrutinised our application and took a year over it, they produced a very long and comprehensive report. "The next steps are to actually acquire the land. The price has been set by the district valuer, so there's no debate about that. 'We need to get the deeds to the land as the first formal step, we tried a year ago but the owner said that since they'd lodged an appeal they weren't going to hand them over. 'I think they will have no choice now, indeed the terms of the acts say that if the owner does not our recourse is to go to the Scottish Lands Tribunal who would then enforce a handover." The CPO could pave the way for future takeovers, with land reform one of the thorniest issues in contemporary public life. Close to 60% of rural land in Scotland is believed to be in private hands, with some estimates stating that 432 families own half of private land in the country as a whole. Sheriff Niven-Smith was not asked to rule on the merits, or lack thereof, of the proposed poetry garden but whether ministers had acted within the law in granting the CPO. In rejecting the appeal by Optimus Fiduciaries, the sheriff concluded that they had. Mr Wynd said: "It's a very satisfying moment for us, because what it represents is that the people of St Andrews can actually have a say in that their town looks like, and that they can prevent someone like the owner from totally neglecting the land and turning it into an eyesore and a location for very unsocial activities. "I hope other communities can follow suit. It is, however, a lot of hard work - in a sense this is only the end of the beginning. "The next step is to acquire the land, then to implement the plan we've had for the garden for a very long time. "We are expecting to receive a substantial grant from the Scottish Land Fund, which as I understand it is really lottery money, we put in an application some time ago and that is still live. If we're successful with that we could get a very substantial proportion of the acquisition cost. 'If that does not come through then I'm glad to say we have generous benefactors who would be prepared to provide a bridging loan.'
The Herald Scotland
05-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Can a derelict garden in St Andrews lead to Scottish land reform?
The owner of the St Andrews eyesore – Forthtay Ltd - had appealed against last year's decision by the Scottish Government to force the sale of the derelict land to local community group, Poets' Neuk. The local group planned to transform the site into a contemplative, public poetry venue. Last week Sheriff Niven Smith rejected Forthtay's appeal. Using Community Right to Buy Legislation introduced in 2016, the Dundee Sheriff Court refusal means the transfer to the community must go ahead. An important precedent for communities This is a landmark decision in favour of communities across Scotland. It is the first time a community group has used this compulsory right to force the sale of land. The judgement in favour of Poets' Neuk sets an important precedent that land should be owned and managed in the public interest. If land is neglected, then communities with plans for sustainable development can force the sale of the unused land and bring it into community use for public benefit. Read more on the issue of land reform in Scotland: Less than three percent of Scotland's is owned by the communities that live here, whilst fifty percent of the private rural land is owned by 421 landowners. Scotland has one of the most unregulated land markets in Europe with wealthy individuals and remote corporations free to buy up land irrespective of their plans, other landholdings or tax status. We repeatedly see that these owners are then free to develop - or neglect - the land as they wish. They are free to invest in their Scottish property, or free to allow the site to decline, often with the hope of some future development value. Local enterprise can be encouraged or discouraged on the whim of the landowner. The owners of often vast estates can release land to help address the national housing crisis, or they can suppress the release of even small areas of land. It is not a 'land-grab' The significance of Sheriff Niven Smith's decision has rung alarm bells among some private landowners and their representatives. However, any fear-mongering would be misleading. Landowners who ensure land is used in a beneficial way which meets the public interest- such as providing housing, employment, economic development or environmental wellbeing - have nothing to fear. But bad landowners who persistently neglect their property can be subject to a process where they lose their land to a community at a fair price. That is fair, reasonable and democratic. It has also now been shown to be legally robust. It will hopefully now be much more difficult for landowners to neglect land when the community has firm plans to develop that land as a social, economic, cultural or environmental asset. Dr Josh Doble, Policy Manager at Community Land Scotland (Image: Nick Mailer) Poets' Neuk decision should encourage radical new Reform Bill The historic decision on Poets' Neuk takes place against the wider debate on the Scottish Land Reform Bill. The initial Bill has been too cautious, and Community Land Scotland is amongst those pushing for more ambitious amendments which could transform land ownership in Scotland. The Poets' Neuk ruling has further underlined that private property rights are not sacrosanct, but always dependent on the public interest. Property rights can and should be interfered with when landowners are not meeting public interest considerations. That principle should encourage the Scottish Government to take positive and ambitious action on the Land Reform Bill. The Bill should ensure that all significant landholdings in Scotland are owned and managed in the public interest. If they aren't, the landowners should face challenge to reform their land management practices and engage with communities, or their own ownership could come into question. Public interest considerations should be at the heart of land reform legislation and a Public Interest Test must be introduced to scrutinise all sales of significant holdings, including an assessment being made of who is purchasing that land. Again and again, we see landowners who do not engage with communities, who are largely absent, who treat estates as vehicles for private gain or ego projects, who won't free up land for housing or local economic development. For generations it was impossible to deal with that neglect. A derelict garden in St Andrews looks set to take us forward to a better, fairer place, where communities can be empowered to benefit from the land around them and where meaningful action can be taken against neglectful and absentee landowners. Dr Josh Doble is the Policy Manager for Community Land Scotland
The National
25-04-2025
- Business
- The National
Scottish court backs first forced sale of private land to community
Landowner Forthtay Ltd appealed the decision of Scottish ministers who backed the compulsory purchase bid by community group Poets' Neuk, who wants to develop a plot in Fife into a public garden dedicated to Mary Queen of Scots. The current plot in St Andrews has been described as "an eyesore". Following a hearing in February, Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith has refused the Forthtay Ltd's appeal. The landowner now has until May 13 to decide whether to appeal the judgment. READ MORE: Ariane Burgess: Land is power. Our country should belong to all of us If the sale goes ahead, it would be the first time that privately-owned land is forcibly sold to a community group in Scotland. Niven-Smith stressed he was ruling on the legality of the decision, not the group's application. He wrote: "I am satisfied that the ministers had regard to the legal framework and applied the correct test in law to the questions they required to answer." Poet's Neuk applied to the Scottish Government to buy the land under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016, which allows land to be sold to a community group by compulsory purchase if it is likely to further "sustainable development" and is in the "public interest". Ministers backed the application in 2024, however, Forthtay argued that ministers had acted "unlawfully" and showed "apparent bias" to the group. Land reform campaigners hope any future forced sale sets a precedent and inspires other groups across Scotland. Dr Josh Doble, policy manager at Community Land Scotland, said: "The community in St Andrews have had a long road to this point and we wholeheartedly congratulate them on this success. "This decision reinforces the fact that our compulsory Community Rights to Buy - which naturally interfere with private property rights - are not only morally robust but legally sound. "We hope this important judgement provides the Scottish government with much-needed encouragement to take positive and ambitious action on the current Land Reform Bill. READ MORE: Scottish university staff set to strike at troubled institution "The bill needs to ensure that all significant landholdings in Scotland are owned and managed in the public interest. And if they are not, ultimately the existing landownership can be challenged." A spokesperson for MML Law, on behalf of the landowner, previously urged for close to attention to be given to the case as it "could have far reaching consequences for many around Scotland". A Scottish government spokesperson said: "We welcome the sheriff's decision to allow the sale of Poet's Neuk to the community to proceed."
BBC News
25-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Court ruling paves way for forced sale of St Andrews land
A landowner has lost an appeal against a Scottish government decision forcing it to sell a patch of overgrown land in Fife to a community group. The group, called Poets' Neuk, wants to develop what it describes as an eyesore plot in St Andrews into a public poetry garden dedicated to Mary Queen of Scots. The landowner Forthtay Ltd appealed the decision of Scottish ministers to back Poets' Neuk compulsory purchase bid, accusing them of "apparent bias". After a hearing at Dundee Sheriff Court earlier this year, Sheriff Timothy Niven--Smith said he was satisfied ministers had acted lawfully. The Scottish government said it welcomed the decision. Forthtay has until 13 May to decide whether to appeal the sheriff's judgement. If the sale goes ahead, it would be the first time that privately-owned land is forcibly sold to a community group in Scotland. Land reform campaigners said they hoped it would set a precedent that other community groups in Scotland might follow. Poets' Neuk said there were problems with littering and other ant-social behaviour on the area of Graham Wynd said the sheriff's decision was "tremendous news" for St Andrews and the community which has supported the project since 2017. "We now have the major task of bringing the Poetry Garden project to a successful conclusion and we do not underestimate the challenges involved and the wide community effort which will be needed," he added. "I have no doubt that this will be forthcoming." Poet's Neuk applied to the Scottish government to buy the former garden under the terms of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016. That law allows land to be sold to a community group by compulsory purchase if it is likely to further "sustainable development" and is in the "public interest". Ministers backed the application in 2024 and said the sale could encourage other communities to consider similar opportunities. But in its appeal Forthtay argued that Scottish ministers had acted "unlawfully" and showed "apparent bias" to the community group when the compulsory purchase decision was for the landowner also noted that it had repeatedly sought planning permission for the commercial development of the land, applications that were unanimously rejected by Fife a hearing in February, Sheriff Niven-Smith has issued a written judgement refusing the landowner's the novelty of the case, the sheriff stressed he was not considering the merit of the community group's application, nor of the landowner's continued conclusion he wrote, "I am satisfied that the ministers had regard to the legal framework and applied the correct test in law to the questions they required to answer." Land reform campaigners hope any future forced sale sets a Josh Doble, policy manager at group Community Land Scotland, said: "The community in St Andrews have had a long road to this point and we wholeheartedly congratulate them on this success."This decision reinforces the fact that our compulsory Community Rights to Buy - which naturally interfere with private property rights - are not only morally robust but legally sound."We hope this important judgement provides the Scottish government with much-needed encouragement to take positive and ambitious action on the current Land Reform Bill."The bill needs to ensure that all significant landholdings in Scotland are owned and managed in the public interest. And if they are not, ultimately the existing landownership can be challenged."It is understood that Forthtay have yet to decide whether to appeal the judgement. A spokesperson for MML Law, on behalf of the landowner, previously urged property owners to pay close attention to the case as it "could have far reaching consequences for many around Scotland".A Scottish government spokesperson said: "We welcome the sheriff's decision to allow the sale of Poet's Neuk to the community to proceed."
