A great chance for the general public to buy their own land

SCOTLAND'S housing market is continuing to blossom with a 12 per cent increase in value predicted for owners in the coming year. But for many people a second investment in property is still too financially risky. While millions have cashed in on the boom created by the sale of council housing, entrepreneur Mark Wilson is paving the way for the public to profit from extra land through co-operatives.

Large housing firms have steamrollered through Scotland in the past 10 years creating thousands of properties, and with them public ill-feeling.

Planning authorities have noted an unprecedented rise in objections to new housing - the not-in-my-back-yard syndrome.

But Mark, 31, has developed a unique concept that offers incentives for people who might not want large developments built close to their own home. Now he is now selling land back to people in their local area as a way of speculation and investment. Mark, a trained accountant, has already had success with his first project in Glenboig, Lanarkshire, where locals could once only dream about owning land. He started off with 183 land shares, owned by a co-operative of locals, with a view to developing the land for housing in the future. House prices have rocketed in Glenboig, a prime location in the Glasgow-Edinburgh commuter belt. And at just £12,000 a share, residents are queuing up for a piece of the action. Mark, managing director of Intelligent Land Investments, said: "Everybody likes money and when the public has the opportunity to make a good return and they can afford to invest into it, the majority will go for it. "In days gone by it was always the landowner and the developer who won financially but what we have done is open up the sale of land so the general public can make some money too. "If a massive house builder decides to come and build near your home, it is unlikely you will see anything from it except from a rise in your house price. "So I wanted to try to give people living close to an area that is likely to be developed the opportunity to invest in something close to home. "All parties win because we are opening up land investment to people who could not afford to do it on a large scale. "It also helps educate people into what to do with their money, especially if they are sitting on a lot of equity in their home." The Clydesdale Bank has thrown its weight behind the idea and teamed up with Mark to offer finance to those interested in releasing cash tied up in their homes.

Mark added: "I have found that many more people have become really interested in investing their money especially after the sale of local authority housing. "Of course there is a risk but the amounts we are talking about are reasonable to many people who have made huge profits after buying their council houses." If a shareholder decides they no longer want the land, then Mark's firm will arrange for them to sell up. But he says he expects each investor to get a minimum 500 per cent return for their money once planning permission is granted. He said: "Basically we want to help smaller private investors earn the same returns from land investments as large developers do and the concept is really working."

BY HEATHER RAMSAY

If you are looking for plots of land for sale try this link. Strategic Land Investments are independent land brokers with access to land from most of the large UK land companies.