The Scottish Government has stumped up £17.6m to purchase Glenprosen Estate – the equivalent of £1070 per acre.

The Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) was one of several prospective purchasers who were given the opportunity to bid for the 16,500-acre estate. The estate was owned by Robin Batchelor and lies north of Kirriemuir, sitting in one of the five Highland glens of Angus. It is understood that a significant part of the estate will now be planted for forestry.

A spokesperson for Forestry and Land Scotland said: “FLS was one of several prospective purchasers that was given the opportunity to bid for Glenprosen Estate. As part of a competitive tender process, our bid of £17.6m was successful in bringing this area of land into public ownership.

“As the Scottish Government agency responsible for looking after Scotland’s national forests and land, our vision is to manage these resources in such a way as to maximise environmental, biodiversity and community benefits whilst also increasing our net contribution to Scotland’s Climate Emergency mitigation effort.

“The acquisition of Glenprosen is of strategic value as we work towards achieving these goals and we look forward to working with our neighbours on landscape scale restoration.

“We will now look at developing specific proposals that will ultimately be put out for consultation as we develop a land management plan,” it said.