Community votes to buy Scotland's highest village
Video report by Gregory Hoare
Residents in Wanlockhead have voted to buy Scotland's highest village from the Duke of Buccleuch.
More than 80 percent of the local community turned out on Wednesday (12 August), and 56 percent voted in favour of the community buyout.
The ballot was organised by Wanlockhead Community Trust, which has been working on plans to take ownership of the land for years.
Independent observers were present, including Scottish Conservative MSP Oliver Mundell, and Amanda Burgauer, who was an SNP candidate in the 2019 General Election.
The Trust says the vote gives them a mandate to progress their plans to purchase around 4,000 acres of land.
They recently commissioned a feasibility study, which identified opportunities to boost the area's tourism offering, as well as providing affordable housing and restoring the natural environment.
The Trust's Chair, Lincoln Richford, described the vote as "historic", and said "for this village to be able to empower itself, in this way, is the first thing of this kind in the south of Scotland".
However, there is local opposition to the plans, and around 44 percent of voters did not back them.
Local resident Jon Evans, who is a trustee at the village's Museum of Lead Mining, told us "I believe a lot of people were put in a position to vote with their hearts, rather than their heads."
He doesn't believe the plans are commercially viable, and has raised concerns about the risk of shifting liability from the current landowner onto villagers.
Some of the land involved in the sale is contaminated, and there are worries about local people becoming responsible for it.
For Skye-layla Marriner, 17, buying her village and the surrounding land is about far more than money.
She told us "it doesn't come down to, 'do you want to buy this certain amount of land?' It comes down to 'do you want to have an opinion over your home?'"
She also hopes taking community control will enable more to be done to make Wanlockhead appealing to younger people.
Negotiations between Wanlockhead Community Trust and Buccleuch Estates continue.
A spokesperson for Buccleuch said: “The community ballot is an important step in the process of obtaining approval and funding from the Scottish Land Fund."
"Certain milestones outwith Buccleuch’s role in the process still need to be achieved by the Trust, and we look forward to hearing the outcome of each of these in the months ahead.”
Once the price is agreed, the Trust needs to secure funding from the Scottish Land Fund, and the deadline is the end of August.
Two other groups in the south of Scotland are also hoping to buy land from Buccleuch Estates.
The Langholm Initiative has received £1 million from the Scottish Land Fund to purchase 10,000 acres of Langholm Moor.
The group wants to turn it into a community-owned nature reserve, but still needs to raise £5 million.
If they aren't successful, Buccleuch Estates has warned the land could be sold to someone else.
Newcastleton and District Community Trust has also received funding from the Scottish Land Fund, and plans to buy 750 acres of land known as Holm Hill.