Rothbury estate: Northumberland locals dread new ownership

It is the silence that strikes you first. Standing in the Simonside hills area of the Rothbury estate in Northumberland, there is bracken underfoot and open countryside as far as the eye can see. A few sheep dot the horizon, without fences to keep them in. Hefted flocks have learned the landscape without the need for shepherding, their knowledge of good grazing passed down through generations, from ewe to lamb.

The landscape matters to people too.

"It's our heritage," said Rothbury councillor Steven Bridgett, who passionately makes the point that humans have farmed this land for thousands upon thousands of years.

But the landscape is on sale, for a price of £35m for almost 9,500 acres (3,844 hectares).

Owned by the Percy family since 1328, the Duke Of Northumberland's youngest son, Lord Max Percy, is selling it.

Four bidders are understood to have made offers for what is the largest single block of land to be sold in England for 30 years.

Nearly half the estate is part of the Northumberland National Park and has some protection. But Mr Bridgett says there are concerns over what may happen to the rest when it is sold.

"I think we may see the estate changed drastically. [We may see] commercial forest planted. We may even see wind turbines."

When the estate was first put up for sale in July there was speculation that local people would register it as an Asset Of Community Value, which could have halted any sale for six months.

But this is now a non-starter according to Mr Bridgett. "What we discovered is that it would be impossible to register the whole estate. It was about getting the time we needed to raise [the asking price]."

But he says that this was impossible because the allotted six months began elapsing as soon as the estate was put up for sale.

Yet things are rather different just a few miles away, across the Scottish border.

I am standing in another beautiful open landscape in the Tarras Valley near the village of Langholm.

All I can see are rolling hills and the peaty landscape into which my boots are slowly sinking.

All of it is owned by the community.

In 2019, 10,500 acres of this area was put up for sale for £6m by the Buccleuch estate for the first time in several hundred years.

Just as in Rothbury, the community was worried that a commercial buyer would be disruptive.

So they began crowdfunding.

Jenny Barlow from the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve explains: "We did not anticipate the support that has come from all over the world. People who may never come and see this amazing place supported us financially

"We were all kind of worried. Were we going to do this? Is this going to be impossible? But it wasn't and we did it!" she said.

They managed it with the help of public money that is not available to the campaigners in Rothbury.

Public donations were topped up by £2m from the Scottish Land Fund, which is run by the Scottish Government.

It helps local communities buy land and will hand out a total of £20m in grants by 2026.

Margaret Pool helped put the community bid together.

Ms Pool said: "They gave us a very tight schedule: we were given a fortnight to find out whether there was sufficient support within the community to go ahead with this.

"The base percentage was 10% of your community. But within less than a fortnight we had gathered 28%".

Back over the border speculation is growing that a sovereign wealth fund or major business could be interested in buying the Rothbury estate.

The feeling of powerlessness contrasts starkly with the situation in Scotland.

Mr Bridgett said: "There is legislation and the support from local government, regional government and the Scottish Government to allow local communities to manage the land - and we don't have that in England.

"I think we should be very jealous of Scotland for having that when we don't," he said.

A spokesperson for the land agent Knight Frank, which is marketing the sale of the Rothbury Estate, said: "None of the public access will change as a result of the sale.

"All of the existing land subject to the Countryside and Rights of Way Act will remain as is today. [This means that] networks of public access - footpaths, bridle paths - across the estate will stay untouched."

A spokesperson for Northumberland County Council said: "This is a beautiful part of our county and we know its sale has generated widespread interest.

"We haven't received a formal nomination to register the estate or any part of it as an Asset of Community Value, which are used most frequently to keep buildings like pubs in community ownership."

The authority added it "needs to look at every pound it spends" and the suggestion that it steps in to create a community-owned resource is "simply not viable for us, given the £35m price tag".

The BBC has approached the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for a comment.

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