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# Revealed: Politicians, billionaires and offshore firms’ taxpayer forestry handouts
- URL: https://www.theferret.scot/politicians-billionaires-offshore-forestry-handouts/
- Published: 2025-02-09T06:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-03T12:27:32.000Z
- Author: Jamie Mann
- Tags: Politics and power, Climate and the Environment, Environment, Finance, Tax havens, The Money Trail, Daily Mail, Duke of Buccleuch, Featured, Forestry, Glenfeshie Limited, Julia Hands, King Charles III, Scottish Forestry, Scottish Government, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-10-15 12:08, #metered

**The King, J.K. Rowling, billionaires and politicians are among those who have been given tens of millions of pounds of taxpayer forestry subsidies, The Ferret can reveal, prompting claims that wealthy landowners are prioritised over rural communities.**

Nearly 2,000 recipients, including estates, investment firms and timber giants, were given £240m to create and manage woodlands between April 2016 and December 2024, according to data we obtained from Scottish Forestry.

Top claimants of Scottish Government-issued taxpayer subsidies included the Duke of Buccleuch, a Scots MP, House of Lords peers and the Scottish Tory chairman.

Others were Brewdog, a former Daily Mail chief, the Duke of Westminster, the Church of England, and a past chair of the Scottish Government’s investment arm.

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/2026/04/image-1.png)](https://www.theferret.scot/tag/the-money-trail/)

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing from claimants. But land and forestry campaigners accused the government of financing wealthy landowners rather than rural communities.

The subsidies, alongside a wide range of [tax relief](https://rse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RSE-inquiry-into-public-financial-support-for-tree-planting-and-forestry-2024.pdf?ref=theferret.scot) and the ability to sell carbon credits, have fuelled surging land prices, and some experts [question](https://www.theferret.scot/invasive-sitka-spruce-threaten-scotland/) the environmental benefits of industrial forestry.

But Scottish Forestry said handouts were “a vital driver” of the government’s aim to cover 21 per cent of Scotland with trees by 2032 and soak up carbon dioxide (Co2). Half of applications were for smaller woodlands, and big commercial schemes were key to meeting green targets, the agency said.

[Billionaire lairds and Tory donors broke rules around rural subsidiesBillionaire lairds, sporting estates and Conservative Party donors in receipt of millions of pounds of public grants are among the owners of businesses which broke the rules around rural subsidies, The Ferret can reveal. Scotland’s rural payments schemes are largely designed to help farmers and land managers make a![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/icon/Ferret-for-new-site-transp-2-34.png)The FerretJamie Mann![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/thumbnail/18012117982_b919687164_o-scaled.jpg)](https://www.theferret.scot/billionaire-lairds-tory-donors-rural-subsidies/)

### **Billionaires, landowners and politicians**

Guernsey entrepreneur **Julia Hands**, who is [reportedly](https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/guy-hands-hand-picked-hotels-chain-cuts-staff-wages-nq9rzs755?ref=theferret.scot) worth £250m, received the most in subsidies of any individual – £3.8m. Hands’ private equity boss husband, Guy, also owns swathes of Scotland’s forests. In 2009, he [left](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/feb/05/emi-citigroup-private-equity-terra-firma?ref=theferret.scot) the UK for Guernsey, a tax haven, to avoid higher taxes.

WildLand Limited subsidiary, **Glenfeshie Limited**, was handed £1.5m. The firms belong to billionaire Anders Povlsen, Scotland’s biggest landowner and wealthiest person.

WildLand CEO Tim Kirkwood said the funding, alongside the firm’s own investment, focused on planting native trees to support “nature recovery”, “national climate change and biodiversity goals”, and new “economic and social opportunities” for local communities.

Fellow billionaire Mahdi Al Tajir’s **Blackford Farms** was given £1.3m. It is [owned](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01229010/filing-history?ref=theferret.scot) in the tax haven of Liechtenstein and last year overclaimed and [misused](https://www.theferret.scot/billionaire-lairds-tory-donors-rural-subsidies/) public subsidies.

**The Duke of Buccleuch**’s Buccleuch Group, whose subsidiaries received £3.1m, told The Ferret it is playing a “key role” in helping the Scottish Government meet its annual target of increasing woodlands by 18,000 hectares.

**Kinnaird Estate**’s co-owner, Crawford Gillies – a Barclays director and former chairman of government investment arm, Scottish Enterprise – netted £938,000, while **Charles Sinclair**, the former [chief of a trust](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1103678/Charles-Sinclair-CBE.html?ref=theferret.scot) behind the Daily Mail, got £865,000.

[Care home moved to spare view from billionaire’s hotelPlans for a vital new care home on the north coast were changed after Scotland’s richest man complained it would ruin the view from his luxury hotel. Anders Povlsen’s company Wildland Limited argued that building a care home next to its “boutique” Lundies House hotel in the village![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/icon/Ferret-for-new-site-transp-2-35.png)The FerretPaul Dobson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/thumbnail/istock-1296176596.jpg)](https://www.theferret.scot/care-home-moved-to-spare-view-billionaires-hotel/)

**Dornells Estate**, which claimed £1.3m, belongs to James Jack, brother of the former Tory Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack. He also is also a [controller](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SO306319/persons-with-significant-control?ref=theferret.scot) of the **Annandale and Lochwood Estates** partnership**,** which was awarded £746,000, but [broke the rules](https://www.theferret.scot/billionaire-lairds-tory-donors-rural-subsidies/) by overclaiming or failing to start subsidised activity.

The partnership said Jack was involved in his capacity as a trustee of the Raehills Trust. “He is neither a beneficiary nor an owner of any of the properties or businesses within the partnership,” it added. Other listed partners include the Earl of Annandale and Hartfell and his son, David, a NatureScot [board member](https://www.nature.scot/about-naturescot/board-directors-and-committees/our-board/board-members?ref=theferret.scot).

Landowning politicians in receipt of subsidies include millionaire [Lib Dem MP, Angus MacDonald](https://members.parliament.uk/member/5362/contact?ref=theferret.scot)via **Doughty Hill** (£1.85m),former Tory MSP and shadow land reform secretary, [Lord Donald Cameron](https://members.parliament.uk/member/5012/registeredinterests?ref=theferret.scot), via **Achnacarry Estate** (£560,000), and Tory lord and former environment minister [Baron Robbie Douglas Miller](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/01/scottish-landowner-who-obstructs-public-access-made-environment-minister?ref=theferret.scot) via **Bavelaw Estate** (£512,000).

**Glenrinnes Farms**’ owner Alasdair Locke, received £238,000\. He gave [£1.3m](https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=1&rows=10&query=Locke&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true®ister=gb®ister=ni®ister=none&optCols=Register&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=IsIrishSource&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation&ref=theferret.scot) to the Tories, including £25,000 to Russell Findlay’s successful leadership campaign, after which he was appointed party chairman. His firm [breached](https://www.theferret.scot/billionaire-lairds-tory-donors-rural-subsidies/) subsidy rules by overclaiming and mismanaging land.

Other recipients included the King via **Balmoral Estate** (£403,000) and the **Duke of Westminster** (£469,000), whose family wealth is [estimated](https://www.thetimes.com/sunday-times-rich-list?ref=theferret.scot) at £10bn.

### **Investment firms and carbon credit developers**

Land expert Andy Wightman last year [highlighted](https://andywightman.scot/2024/10/french-government-sells-scottish-forests/?ref=theferret.scot) that France’s **Woodland Invest**, which was awarded £1.59m, put its extensive Scottish forestry portfolio up for sale. As the [largest investor](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/OE029057/filing-history?ref=theferret.scot) is France’s state investment bank, the Paris government stands to profit, Wightman pointed out.

The [tax haven-linked](https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-national-bank-hands-50m-26087036?ref=theferret.scot) investment giant, **Gresham House**, which was pledged £50m by the Scottish Government’s investment bank, got £4.6m. Other tax haven recipients include the British Virgin Islands-[owned](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/FC033287?ref=theferret.scot) **Balavil Estate**, which got £670,000.

Some £1.5m went to **Richard Davidson**. Heis [a member](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/OC389623/officers?ref=theferret.scot) of a wealth management firm [for the super rich](https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/money/article/the-financial-adviser-helping-the-super-rich-get-richer-xp9w3m9rj?ref=theferret.scot) and The Forestry Partnership 2008.

In 2021, the partnership, which owns land in the Trossachs, asked the national park authority to let timber trucks run through a popular visitor site. The park refused, and faced legal action as a result. A spokesperson said the case was “paused for parties to negotiate.”

Forest owners can also sell [carbon credits](https://www.theferret.scot/tag/carbon-credits/) to buyers seeking to offset their carbon footprint.

In 2022, [we found](https://www.theferret.scot/developers-behind-scotland-carbon-credit-green-rush/) management firm **Scottish Woodlands** to be Scotland’s biggest developer of offsetting schemes, which can generate credits. It received £1.6m in subsidies.

[Revealed: The developers behind Scotland’s carbon credit ‘green rush’Scotland’s richest man, an oil giant, an earl, and private equity and property firms are among those developing carbon credit projects that critics say are pushing up land prices and allowing companies to “greenwash” their image, The Ferret can reveal. With its swathes of rural land, Scotland has attracted![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/icon/Ferret-for-new-site-transp-2-36.png)The FerretJamie Mann![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/thumbnail/image-from-rawpixel-id-3305104-original-1.jpg)](https://www.theferret.scot/developers-behind-scotland-carbon-credit-green-rush/)

Proponents say offsetting incentivises carbon capture and attracts private money. But critics argue it allows polluting corporations to “greenwash” their image.

Scottish Woodlands said its work supports national green objectives, provides rural jobs, and ensures “future UK timber security”. Over 70 per cent of its woodland offsetting activity was for farmers and landowners, and less than one per cent of its clients’ carbon credits had been sold on, a spokesperson claimed.

Brewdog planted around 500,000 trees to offset its own emissions as part of the subsidised **Lost Forest** near Aviemore. But around half died, and the beer giant, which was handed £1m, now [deems](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/brewdog-abandons-carbon-negative-target-n2gq25w7s?ref=theferret.scot) it too expensive to be a carbon-negative company.

### **Access issues, community concerns and legal action**

Some recipients’ plantations have allegedly caused issues**.** In 2022, **Thistlelane Limited**, a firm controlled by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling – who was last year valued at £945m – was [accused](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-61672867?ref=theferret.scot) of blocking paths in the Borders. It won £706,000 in subsidies.

**Ardnamurchan Estate** received £1.1m. In 2021, locals – including Highland Council’s former leader – [reported](https://www.theferret.scot/highland-landowner-breaching-public-access/) 17 locked gates on the estate, some allegedly within subsidised woodlands.

[Highland estate owner breaching public access rights, say localsThe former leader of Highland Council has accused a wealthy landowner of breaching outdoor access legislation by locking gates on walking routes, which it is claimed have been used for generations. Dr Michael Foxley and fellow residents of the Ardnamurchan peninsula in the west Highlands argue that by doing so,![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/icon/Ferret-for-new-site-transp-2-37.png)The FerretJamie Mann![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/thumbnail/Picturesque-views-from-one-of-the-Glenborrodale-paths-looking-to-Loch-Sunart-scaled.jpeg)](https://www.theferret.scot/highland-landowner-breaching-public-access/)

The obstructions were in an apparent breach of Scottish Forestry’s [grant conditions](https://www.forestry.gov.scot/support-regulations/woodland-creation?ref=theferret.scot), locals claimed. The estate faced a council [legal bid](https://www.theferret.scot/council-and-charity-takes-highland-estate-to-court/) to force the reopening of a path past its wood sheds – on land [owned](https://www.theferret.scot/highland-estate-public-access-legal-fight-tax-haven/) in a tax haven – but the action has been paused for negotiations.

In Langholm, Dumfriesshire, locals are campaigning against **James Jones and Sons**’ plans for a mainly Sitka spruce forest on a prominent hilltop. The timber giant is owned by the Bruce Jones family, who are valued at [nearly £600m](https://www.thetimes.com/sunday-times-rich-list?ref=theferret.scot).

A community group, which won public funding to stop the spread of the self-seeding Sitka spruce on the neighbouring nature reserve, [expressed](https://www.scotsman.com/hays-way/anger-over-conifer-forest-proposal-as-community-feels-its-disappearing-under-a-carpet-of-sitka-4829180?ref=theferret.scot) bafflement at the firm’s subsidies, which total £3.4m.

### **What are they planting?**

More than half of subsidies funded conifer plantations, while a further eight per cent supported “diverse” conifer forests. Less than a third went towards planting native trees.

The most planted conifer is the North American Sitka spruce. We [calculated](https://www.theferret.scot/invasive-sitka-spruce-threaten-scotland/) that the tree, deemed “invasive” by some, makes up nearly half of Scotland’s forests. If left unmanaged, it kills native species and threatens protected habitats vital to fight climate change.

But forestry bodies [argue](https://www.theferret.scot/invasive-sitka-spruce-threaten-scotland/) that Sitka absorbs carbon quickly, and is key to Scotland’s woodland growth and net zero targets.

[‘Invasive’ Sitka spruce threaten Scottish species and habitats, say expertsA North American tree that kills native species and threatens protected habitats vital to fight climate change now makes up nearly half of Scotland’s forests, The Ferret can reveal. Our analysis of official forestry data shows that Sitka spruce makes up 43 per cent of Scotland’s woodlands, more![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/icon/Ferret-for-new-site-transp-2-38.png)The FerretJamie Mann![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/e2/2de2844d-80a7-4c7b-8025-6f1f39724aa6/content/images/thumbnail/image-from-rawpixel-id-3305104-original.jpg)](https://www.theferret.scot/invasive-sitka-spruce-threaten-scotland/)

A [report](https://rse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RSE-inquiry-into-public-financial-support-for-tree-planting-and-forestry-2024.pdf?ref=theferret.scot) from the Royal Society of Edinburgh last year urged Scottish Forestry to ditch subsidies and tax breaks for commercial conifer plantations, and instead fund native broadleaves, which, it argues, lock up more carbon and Co2, support more plant and animal species, and live far longer.

### **Scotland’s land ‘seen as a commodity’**

Scottish Labour’s rural affairs and land reform spokesperson, [Rhoda Grant MSP](https://www.parliament.scot/msps/current-and-previous-msps/rhoda-grant?ref=theferret.scot), said subsidies are necessary “to promote sustainable forestry management and climate change mitigation”.

But she stressed: “Those with the means and resources to improve the land themselves should do so. Scotland’s land should not be seen as a commodity to avoid paying tax, nor should it be used as a financial asset or a tax-efficient investment.”

Grant added: “Landowners must use their land in a responsible way and those with the biggest pockets and biggest estates have the biggest onus to do so.”

The [Forest Policy Group](https://www.forestpolicygroup.org/?ref=theferret.scot) think tank said our findings exemplified the need for a review of the subsidies system as part of the [Land Reform Bill](https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/s6/land-reform-scotland-bill?ref=theferret.scot) in the Scottish Parliament.

“The Scottish Government has chosen not to channel money towards rural communities to build community wealth, or to stimulate small scale rural enterprise, through subsidised forestry,” said a spokesperson.

“Rather it has opted to put money into the pockets of the already wealthy, many of whom are remote individuals and companies who have no interest in the people living in rural Scotland.”

> Landowners must use their land in a responsible way and those with the biggest pockets and biggest estates have the biggest onus to do so.  
>  
> Rhoda Grant MSP, Scottish Labour

Community Land Scotland’s Dr Josh Doble said he was “increasingly concerned by the power of forestry corporations, wealthy landowners and forestry investors within the Scottish land market”.

There was “a lack of transparency around environmental regulation and muted community engagement” around tree planting projects, he claimed.

“Commercial forestry can generate significant profits with money flowing to shareholders and being extracted out of local economies and the wider Scottish economy, especially where owners are based in foreign jurisdictions,” added Doble.

“More of the wealth being generated needs to be captured locally with meaningful community benefit arrangements put in place”.

Scottish Forestry said subsidies were “a vital driver” of forest expansion and only a “contribution” to costs otherwise met by landowners. Half of applications went to small-scale woodland schemes, “mostly from farmers and crofters”.

“Large commercial schemes play an irreplaceable role in tackling climate change and achieving net zero, they support over 34,000 mainly rural jobs and contribute over £1.1bn to the Scottish economy each year,” said a spokesperson.

In 2023-24, Scotland created “the highest area of new woodland in 34 years, including a record 7,700 hectares of native woodland,” which would not have been possible without subsidies, they added.

Every organisation and individual named in this article was approached for comment.

*Main image: Martin Vorel, Catholic Church England and Wales/Flickr, Daniel Ogren/Flickr, Allan warren*