26-03-2025
Why is land reform on the agenda in Scotland?
MSPs have given their initial backing to a new Land Reform Scottish government says it wants to change the way land is owned and managed across the country "for the better".Some campaigners are calling for the bill to go further, while landowners have described the proposals as "unworkable".What is land reform and why is it on the agenda?
Why is this happening?
Scotland has one of the most concentrated landownership patterns in the developed times this has lead to social struggles - such as when crofters won legal rights in 1886 - and has inspired plays and protest in recent in the Highlands and Islands have bought and managed vast swathes of land over recent decades, and a community right-to-buy was made law in many still feel that more change is by the former Green MSP Andy Wightman suggests that the concentration of landowners has increased in recent years with 50% of land owned by around 420 people. Around 4% is owned by people and companies from abroad.
Land in Scotland has also become more expensive in recent years and off-market sales are still common, according to the Scottish Land can also have land sales sprung on them. Residents in the south of the Isle of Skye complained when they learned a 20,000 acre estate would be on the market with only two days notice. Rural Secretary Mairi Gougeon said the case was a good example of why further land reform measures were needed. A parliamentary committee said the scarcity of useful land "stops some communities flourishing."Introducing the bill, Gougeon said that the Scottish government does "not feel its right that ownership and control of much of Scotland's land is still in the hands of relatively few people."The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill aims to address the concentration of landownership as well as giving communities a greater say in what happens on privately owned land.
What's in the bill?
The new laws would regulate how land is used across Scotland as well as how land can be bought and would affect lots of different people, like the owners of huge estates, tenant farmers and crofters, and community-run have already been big changes over the years, but the Scottish government said that the benefits and opportunities of the country's land needs to be more widely bill is in two first part would make owners of the biggest landholdings tell the surrounding community more about what happens on the land. It also suggests ways to make it easier for community groups to buy land when it comes up for second part deals with agricultural and environmental uses of leased farm even while recommending the bill to parliament, the Net Zero, Energy and Transport committee said it was too big and too complicated.
Why is it controversial?
While there is broad support for much of what's in the bill, the first part - about land ownership and use - is more landowners have warned that ministers would be given far too much power to "interfere" in landowners business, including forcing the break up of large estates before they are sold into smaller Land and Estates, an organisation of private landowners, said that too much "unevidenced" focus was being put on large it argued that big estates could actually help meet aims like climate executive Sarah-Jane Laing said the bill required "significant revisions".She added: "As it stands, it threatens to burden rural businesses with excessive red tape and add significant costs to the public purse while failing to deliver real benefits for communities."But land reform campaigners think the bill does not go far Land Scotland (CLS) urged MSPs to push for tougher changes to break up "archaic" landownership in Josh Doble, CLS policy manager, said: "Scotland's history of concentrated landownership and lack of public oversight a has resulted in one of the world's most depleted natural environments, alongside a lack of opportunities, democracy and wealth sharing."
What was said at Holyrood?
Most political parties backed the general principles of the during the Holyrood debate, the Scottish Conservatives urged the Scottish government to scrap the bill and pursue other means by "working with landowners".Scottish Conservative MSP Tim Eagle said it was "by far the worst bill" he had seen in Ewing, SNP MSP for Inverness and Nairn, said a different approach was needed and argued that measures in the bill could "dampen" the rural Labour's Rhoda Grant said the party supported the bill but want to see it go further. Liam McArthur, of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, described it as a "mixed bag" and urged ministers to strike an "appropriate balance between rights and responsibilities".Ariane Burgess, of the Scottish Greens, supported the bill but said it was "disappointingly lacking in ambition".After the debate MSPs backed the general principles of the bill - by 91 votes to 29 - and it will now go back to the committee for more means it could become law before the next Scottish election in in the meantime the debate on how best to manage land ownership in Scotland will continue.
