Property rights? Not in Scotland.

So a guy buys a ruined castle. He wants to restore it, turn it into a clan museum and donate it to a trust. The outcome:

During the inquiry the agency, supported by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings charity, argued that restoration was detrimental to the monument’s fabric and to its cultural significance.

Not only can he not do what he wishes with his own property, he cannot even restore it. In fact, within a decade, he will have to repair it to keep it as a ruin.
This in the land of Adam Smith!

4 responses

  1. Not to worry, give a year or two and the Scottish Executive will be issuing a compulsory purchase order and giving the castle to squatters or somesuch.

  2. 4.5 million, is that all, maybe he should be offered the contract to restore the new Parliament building, when it starts to fall apart in a couple of years.

  3. Gawain, now you know better. Clans, clan seats and the aristocracy by birth that they embody are the failed relics of a by-gone age that we can no longer afford. MSP’s are the vibrant harbringers of a new Scotland. That a building sufficient to house an MSP costs per seat the same as a building to house an entire clan is not the point here.

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