ONE of Scotland’s biggest landowners has had the rates on his sporting estate cut after a successful appeal in a move that will reduce the annual bill – and income to the public purse – by around £25,000 a year, the Sunday National has revealed.

Advisers to the Duke of Buccleuch challenged the rateable value given to shooting and stalking rights on the Queensberry Estate at Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway.

Assessors had initially set the rateable value (RV) for country sports at the property at £71,500, but after the appeal it was slashed to £23,200.

Three other smaller sporting properties owned by the Buccleuch estates in the Borders also made successful appeals against the RV to their shooting rights which resulted in substantial reductions to their rates bills.

Shooting and deer stalking ­ventures were exempt from non-domestic rates under legislation brought in by the Conservatives in 1994, although the companies did have to pay rates for other aspects of their businesses such as offices and holiday lets.

But the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Act in 2016 removed the exemption in a bid to bring in a more equitable system of land ­ownership and address inequalities in wealth and income.

The non domestic tax rates bill is worked out by a formula which multiplies the RV with the poundage rate, set by the Scottish Government – currently 49.8p for properties with a RV of up to £51,000 and 51.1p for those with a RV of more than £51,000.

The calculation means that ­the annual rates bill for country sports on the Queensberry Estate would have been £36,536.5, but ­after the ­successful appeal the new bill would be £11,553.6 – a reduction of £24,982.

Andy Wightman, the Scottish Greens MSP, slammed the development and said it was ironic that ­Benny Higgins, the executive chairman of Buccleuch, is an adviser to the Scottish Government on building an economy that is fairer and greener in the wake of the pandemic.

“Shooting estates have only been liable for these taxes since 2017 and the Scottish Fiscal Commission ­estimated a gross income of £15 ­million.

"But because of appeals such as this from Buccleuch and the fact that some of the wealthiest ­individuals on the planet are eligible for the small business bonus scheme the net income was estimated at £6 million but in reality for last year was a mere £2.8 million,” said Wightman.

“It’s bad enough that blood sports continue to be an income stream for large landowners, but for them to try and minimise taxes on those ­businesses is depressing.”

He added: “It’s ironic that the person now responsible for quibbling the fair share of business rates on behalf of Buccleuch, Benny Higgins, is the same man advising the First Minister on a fair and green recovery.

"If we are to truly have a green recovery, we need reform in the way land is taxed and we need to redistribute power over land in the public interest.”

Higgins, executive chairman of Buccleuch, defended the decision. He said: “Buccleuch is a rural business employing around 450 people and, like many other businesses operating a shooting business, the re-introduction of sporting rates was uncharted territory for both assessors and businesses. Appeals were commonplace ­because the system was new and were lodged to a achieve a fair rating ­valuation.”

A spokesman added: “Buccleuch estates always pay what is due and that is not the same as not appealing the rating value.”

The Duke of Buccleuch was not personally involved in the decisions to appeal the original rateable ­values set for the sporting rights on his ­estates.

It is also true that Higgins as head of he Buccleuch business is duty bound to run the enterprises as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Under the Land Reform Act, the new revenue generated from sporting estates would go to a Scottish Land Fund to help promote community buyouts. Figures accompanying the bill estimated around £4 million a year would be collected.

After the act passed surveyors gave a rateable value (RV) to each sporting estate to determine the rates they would have to pay under the new law.

Entries later published on the roll for the Scottish Assessors Association, whose members carry out the valuations, reveal the Buccleuch ­family’s Queensberry Estate was ­issued with a £71,500 rateable valuation for shooting and stalking land at Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway.

The roll also reveals that an ­appeal was lodged which was successful with the new rateable value set at £23,200.

It also shows the Buccleuch ­estates successfully appealed a £25,500 rateable value given to Bowhill low ground stalking land in Selkirk. The new rateable value issued last month for shooting rights on this property was cut to £9,600.

The rateable value for shooting rights at a third Buccleuch estate at Langholm Moor Stalking in Hawick in the Borders was reduced from £8,900 to £6,500 on appeal, while a separate Buccleuch estate in Hawick, Drinkstone Stalking, was successful in getting its rateable value reduced on appeal from £6,100 to £3,750.

Jim Doig, assesor and electoral ­registration officer at Dumfries and Galloway Council, said in a ­statement that the value of the Buccleuch Estate Shootings were reduced on appeal due to several factors:

  •  There was some parts of the original valuation removed and created as separate entries in the Valuation Roll when it became clear that parts of the land were let out separately or included within another entry in the Valuation Roll.
  •  The original valuation was based upon a land value per hectare that was subsequently reduced as further information became available to Assessors.
  • When we engaged with the agent during the appeal, it became clear that a large part of the land was not as good quality as we had first thought. This merited a large part being valued at a much lower rate.
  • There were also issues of accessibility that warranted end allowances.

He added: “Therefore whilst the change looks significant, it was ­warranted. As Shooting Rights were new into the Valuation Roll at 2017 Assessors had to do a significant amount of work to establish the facts and it was not possible in all cases to obtain accurate information at the outset.

“This is of course why we have appeals processes.”

A Scottish Government ­spokesman said: “The valuation of all non-­domestic property is a matter for Scottish Assessors, who are wholly independent of the Scottish Government.

“Appeals are lodged with the ­valuation appeal committees and may ultimately be heard in the Lands Valuation Appeal Court.”

The spokesman did not comment on Higgins dual roles as Scottish ­Government adviser and executive chairman of Buccleuch Estates.

Buccleuch Estates control around 217,000 acres in Dumfries and Galloway and in the Borders making it one of Scotland’s largest landowners.