THE Scottish Government is exploring whether it can intervene to help a historic Highland ferry service which is facing an uncertain future due to ancient rights held by an “absentee landowner”, the First Minister has said.
In August, The National revealed the fears for the future of the MV Glenachulish, which is said to be the last manually operated turntable ferry in the world and serves the route between Glenelg on the mainland and Kylerhea in Skye.
On the Skye side, landowner Richard Oliphant of that Ilk holds ancient “rights to ferry”, for which he is paid a percentage of the ferry service’s turnover each year. A clause in the agreement between Oliphant of that Ilk and the Isle of Skye Ferry Community Interest Company (CIC) means that he can never be paid less than a previous year.
After a bumper 2025 saw the landowner paid around £10,000, there are concerns about having to pay him at least that in every year moving forward, with poor weather hitting this year’s takings.
On Tuesday, the first day of the Scottish Parliament’s new session, Highlands and Islands MSP Ariane Burgess raised The National’s reporting with the First Minister.
John Swinney said: “I'm very familiar with the ferry service that Ariane Burgess mentions, and I've used that ferry service. It's an absolute joy and a great asset to the communities in Skye and in Glenelg.
“I have seen the news media reports and I've asked for advice about the issues that are involved to determine whether there is any legitimate intervention the government can make.”
He added: “I'd be happy to write to Ariane Burgess once that information has come to me and we have a clear understanding of whether there's any scope for the government to act.”
A petition calling for “Scottish politicians to step in and change the rules to support this incredible ferry” has now been signed almost 40,000 times.
Scott Cameron, the captain of the MV Glenachulish, previously called on politicians to step in and help the service by changing the laws around rights to ferry.
“To lose £10,000 per year is a huge blow to us,” he said. “It creates a huge uncertainty. We have plans for development and improvement and losing £10,000 means we might well lose these developments.
“What we need is a change in this ludicrous old law. This ancient legislation is the root of the problem and it needs to be addressed.”
Community Land Scotland – a charity which supports and promotes community ownership of land and buildings – said that the Scottish Government “should be working to address these legal anachronisms that have no place in the 21st century”.
Oliphant of that Ilk has not responded to repeated attempts to contact him. He is understood to live in Edinburgh and has been described as a millionaire.
He made headlines in 2003 after hiring Hugh Peskett – the acclaimed genealogist who traced Ronald Reagan’s family to the tiny Irish village of Ballyporeen – to prove his claim to the chiefship of Clan Oliphant, ousting the Perthshire farmer who had been thought to hold the title.
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