A Letter-Writing Campaign to the Scottish Government?
Can you imagine your local council selling off your heritage to line a capital fund?
It is happening in Invergordon.
The Invergordon Museum has been fighting valiantly to save the Bouchardon bust of Sir John Gordon, one of the founders of Invergordon. They are now appealing to the Scottish Government to intervene.
Yesterday, they published another press release (see below, it's quite long), highlighting how UK heritage funding bodies have stated that they cannot consider funding the town's buyback of the bust because the Highland Council's commercial sale of the bust - a community asset - may represent an ethical breach, particularly the principle that public funding should not be used to enable the commercial disposal of public collection items or public trust assets.
The bust is a crucial link to the town's 18th century history. Once sold overseas, the bust will be gone forever.
The sale therefore calls into question the ethical behaviour of the Highland Council as a steward of our Highland culture. This is a national heritage issue, showing how no Scottish Common Good asset is safe from such mismanagement and is at risk.
You can support the Invergordon Museum by writing to the Cabinet Secretary in the Scottish Government responsible for Culture to advise the Council against this sale:
Màiri McAllan MSP,
Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic - CabSecforECG@gov.scot
CC: First Minister John Swinney - John.Swinney.msp@parliament.scot
Please share widely to every group concerned with Scotland's history and heritage.
Our heritage is on the line. Thank you for your support.
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PRESS RELEASE: SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT URGED TO INTERVENE AS £3.1M BOUCHARDON BUST TRAPPED IN HERITAGE 'FUNDING CATCH-22', UNLAWFUL CONSULTATION, AND MOUNTING SECRECY
SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT URGED TO INTERVENE AS £3.1M BOUCHARDON BUST TRAPPED IN HERITAGE 'FUNDING CATCH-22', UNLAWFUL CONSULTATION, AND MOUNTING SECRECY
National heritage funders refuse grant aid over Highland Council’s 'unethical' commercial sale process.
Option agreement signed with Highland Council on 1 July 2026 leaves campaign facing strict 1 December 2026 deadline.
Highland Council defies information regulator: Scottish Information Commissioner ruled in the museum's favour after ignored FOIs, but council still refuses to disclose documents.
Formal complaint lodged as Highland Council sxcbreaches statutory duty under Community Empowerment Act by ignoring its own loan partner, Invergordon Naval Museum.
Tain Sheriff Court rules bust is not 'unalienable', but requests to view written decision are refused.
Trustees demand Scottish Ministers convene emergency summit and launch statutory inquiry into council procedures.
INVERGORDON, SCOTLAND — The campaign to save the 1728 Bouchardon bust of Sir John Gordon for the nation has hit a critical impasse. The UK’s primary heritage grant bodies have confirmed they cannot provide a single penny to help the community retain the £3.1m artwork, while local authority non-compliance has escalated to defying Scotland's independent information regulator.
Following an Option Agreement signed with Highland Council on 1 July 2026, the community has been given until 1 December 2026 to raise £3,135,900 or halt the sale before the masterpiece is sold commercially.
The Museum Trustees approached the National Heritage Memorial Fund and National Lottery Heritage Fund for grant support to meet this target. However, the NHMF formally confirmed that because Highland Council opted to treat a public Common Good asset as a commercial line item for disposal, the transaction breaches the UK-wide Joint Statement on Unethical Sales from Public Collections. As a result, statutory grant bodies are ethically barred from assisting the buy-back.
The 'Funding Catch-22'
This procedural choice by Highland Council has trapped the community of Invergordon in an untenable situation as the 1 December 2026 deadline ticks down:
Strict Commercial Deadline: Following the 1 July 2026 Option Agreement, the clock is running on a £3,135,900 fundraising target.
Grant Funding Blocked: Highland Council’s commercial sales route directly locked the community out of the UK’s largest public heritage funds.
Unfair Public Burden: The people of Invergordon are expected to raise over £3.1 million privately to buy back an asset they already beneficially own, while denied access to national grant funds due solely to the council's procedural choices.
"Highland Council’s rush to monetise a Common Good asset has completely broken the system," said a spokesperson for the Invergordon Museum. "The council has created a nightmare scenario where the community is punished for the council's own unethical sales process. We are expected to raise over three million pounds to buy back our own property, while being barred from the very grant funds built to preserve national treasures."
Defying the Regulator: Information Commissioner Decision Ignored
The opacity surrounding the council’s handling of the bust has escalated from administrative delay to active defiance of statutory oversight:
Ignored FOI Requests: The museum submitted formal Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to inspect documents, correspondence, and valuations regarding the bust. Highland Council repeatedly missed promised response dates and failed to produce the documentation.
Scottish Information Commissioner Intervention: The museum escalated the matter to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who investigated and determined that the museum's position was right and the council was in breach of information law.
Continued Refusal to Disclose: Despite the independent regulator upholding the museum's appeal, Highland Council continues to refuse to release any documents regarding the bust.
Withheld Court Decision: This non-compliance follows the council's refusal to allow the trustees to inspect the written decision of Tain Sheriff Court, which ruled that the bust is no longer unalienable Common Good property.
Unlawful Consultation: Formal Complaint Lodged Over Statutory Breach
The crisis has further deepened following the discovery of a material flaw in Highland Council’s statutory consultation process. The Trustees of the Invergordon Naval Museum & Heritage Centre have submitted an urgent formal complaint to Highland Council Chief Executive Derek Brown regarding a breach of statutory duty under Section 104 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015:
Failure to Notify Known Interested Bodies: Under Sections 104(4) and 104(5)(c) of the Act, the council is legally required to directly notify and invite representations from any community body known to have an interest in the property.
Contractual Link Ignored: Highland Council possessed explicit, documented knowledge of the Museum's interest, having entered into a formal loan agreement in 2011 for the Museum to physically house and display the bust. Despite this contractual history, the Museum was entirely excluded from the January 2024 statutory consultation.
Refusal to Engage: A direct invitation to Chief Executive Derek Brown to visit the museum and discuss community-led alternatives was formally acknowledged by the council, but followed by a complete failure to engage or provide a substantive reply.
Court Disclosures Questioned: The Trustees are questioning whether this failure to consult a contractually linked community body was disclosed to the Sheriff when Highland Council sought court approval to clear the title for sale.
The Museum has demanded an immediate standstill agreement on the progression of the sale. If Highland Council proceeds based on an unlawful consultation process, the matter will be escalated to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) and formally reported to the UK Government’s Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art (RCEWA) because the legal integrity of the sale is under formal dispute.
Call for Scottish Ministerial Intervention
In response to statutory breaches, funding locks, and systemic non-disclosure, the Trustees of Invergordon Museum and the Save the Bust Campaign have submitted formal legal representations to the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and the Minister for Local Government.
The submission challenges the Scottish Government’s stance that it 'cannot intervene' because Highland Council is the 'legal owner', clarifying that under Scots Common Good law, Highland Council holds bare legal title purely as a statutory trustee, while beneficial ownership remains with the people of Invergordon.
The Museum is formally requesting that Scottish Ministers:
Convene an Emergency Stakeholder Summit between Highland Council, Invergordon Museum Trustees, National Galleries of Scotland, and Historic Environment Scotland to establish a national co-acquisition framework.Order a Statutory Inquiry under Section 211 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 into Highland Council’s compliance with Section 104 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, investigating the unlawful exclusion of the Invergordon Naval Museum, total responses from only 67 residents (~1.5% of the population), and the disregard of explicit objections from both Invergordon Community Council and Saltburn Community Council.Broker a Contractual Standstill to pause execution of the sale and suspend the 1 December deadline while national retention options, legal disclosures, and statutory consultation breaches are investigated.
“This is no longer just a local dispute over a town asset — it is a systemic crisis for Scottish Common Good law, democratic transparency, and statutory accountability,” added the spokesperson. “When a local council can ignore statutory consultation duties, exclude its own contractual partners, pre-sell a community asset, withhold court decisions, and defy the Scottish Information Commissioner, no Common Good asset in Scotland is safe. We need Scottish Ministers to step up, show national leadership, and bring all parties to the table.”