Latest news with #Villalba
The National
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
SNP 'working with Tories to weaken Land Reform Bill', MSPs say
The Greens' Mark Ruskell and Labour's Mercedes Villalba both told the Sunday National that the SNP Government was using Tory votes to keep effective measures out of the new legislation. The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will this week pass 'stage two' at Holyrood, where amendments to the initial wording are proposed by MSPs and voted on for inclusion or rejection by members of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. However, last week, MSPs on the committee – which has three SNP, two Tory, one Labour, and one Green member – voted against measures including putting a public interest test on the proposed buyer of Scottish land. Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon speaking to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee in a meeting held on June 17 (Image: Holyrood TV) The amendment, proposed by Villalba and rejected by the SNP and Tories, would have forced ministers to take into account things like a potential landowners' tax residence when deciding if a sale would be in the public interest. MSPs and the Government did support dropping the threshold for estates covered by the legislation from 3000 to 1000 hectares – but the SNP and Tories voted together to reject an amendment to push that down further to 500 hectares. There are around 2.5 acres to a hectare, and 1.6 acres to a standard football pitch. Villalba had tabled a more radical proposal that would have prevented anyone in Scotland from owning more than 500 hectares of land unless it could be shown to have environmental or community benefits. This was also voted down by the SNP and Tories. READ MORE: Rachael Revesz: The Land Reform Bill is only tinkering round the edges Changing the threshold at which estates are covered by the bill from 3000 to 1000 hectares means that the number of estates which will be required to publish Land Management Plans, support wild places, and comply with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code has been doubled to a total of about 700, covering just over 60% of Scotland's land, the John Muir Trust said. Villalba said that 67% of Scotland's countryside is owned by 'just 0.025% of the population' and that the 1000-hectare threshold would do nothing to change this. Further questions surround whether land must be contiguous to be considered a single 1000-hectare estate. The SNP put forward a rule saying that plots of land are a single holding if their borders are within 250 metres. The Greens had been set to table an amendment to make this 10 miles, but it was not moved. Ruskell said this was due to a shared understanding that the 250m limit was too low – and that it would be addressed at a later stage. However, Ruskell further said that the bill in its current state was 'fundamentally not going to lead to a solution to the growing inequalities in land ownership that we have in Scotland'. Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell in the parliament chamber (Image: Holyrood TV)'This bill does not tackle that, full stop,' he went on. 'It gives communities a bit more power, it provides a bit more scrutiny as to what landowners are currently doing, but it's not clear that this is going to make any major difference in terms of getting a more diverse pattern of land ownership and really changing the answer to 'Who owns Scotland?'. 'Things will continue broadly as they have been for centuries, but with a wee bit more community involvement. It's a bill that's tweaking around the edges of existing systems rather than having a big bold vision.' He told the Sunday National that the Scottish Government could 'easily put forward a more radical vision into this bill and get support from Labour and the Greens, easily'. 'Every amendment would pass. Every single amendment would be unchallengeable. So it's their call because they have the votes for it and they have the consensus on the left – but they don't want to play to that. 'So they're getting support from the Tories to defeat anything that's taking a bill into a more radical place.' READ MORE: Lesley Riddoch: Scotland needs real action on land reform Villalba went a step further, saying the bill was not fit for purpose and would entrench inequality across Scotland. The Scottish Labour MSP went on: 'The SNP have demonstrated that their true allegiance is not with the Scottish people, but rather with wealthy private landowners who manage their property not in the public interest but to maximise their own profits. 'Scotland's land should belong to the people, and benefit both local communities and the natural environment. It's high time the SNP stopped deferring to lobbyists and empowered Scots to take back control of their land.' She added: 'By voting against the inclusion of a presumed limit on ownership over 500 hectares in the bill, the SNP risk allowing land to be sold or managed in ways that benefit private interests at the expense of the public good, entrenching the very problems their proposals seek to correct. 'What's more, by aligning with the Conservative Party to reject the inclusion of a robust public interest test, rather than stand up for Scots, they have rolled over for the wealthy – and not for the first time.' The SNP and Scottish Government were approached for comment.
The Herald Scotland
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Land reform Bill: Labour MSP in bid to introduce 500ha cap
The MSP is to lodge amendments that would introduce a presumptive cap on land ownership. Her proposal would prevent any individual or entity from buying, selling or owning more than 500 hectares by default. READ MORE: MSPs backed the general principles of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill in March. Holyrood's Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee is set to begin Stage 2 scrutiny on Tuesday, considering hundreds of proposed amendments. The Bill has two parts. The first would place a duty on the owners of the largest landholdings to engage with the local community about the use of the land. It also proposes mechanisms to make it easier for community groups to purchase land when it is put up for sale. The second part addresses the agricultural and environmental use of leased farmland. Ms Villalba's amendment would mean any transaction exceeding the 500 hectare threshold would trigger a forward-looking public interest test, assessing whether the sale benefits local communities and Scotland more broadly. Where estates fail the test, ministers could require them to be divided and sold in smaller parcels—a measure aimed at curbing further concentration. She also plans to amend the Bill's definition of 'large-scale' landholding to account for total land owned, rather than just contiguous holdings. This is intended to prevent landowners from avoiding regulation by holding multiple, smaller, separate parcels. A further amendment would stop ministers from raising the acreage thresholds without full scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament, amid concerns future governments could dilute the reforms. Ms Villalba said more ambitious action is needed to dismantle Scotland's entrenched 'land monopoly'. Mercedes Villalba outside the Trump course in Balmedie (Image: Contributed) Despite over two decades of land reform legislation, the country is often cited as having the most unequal land ownership in the western world. Research published last year by former Green MSP and land reform advocate Andy Wightman found that half of Scotland's privately owned rural land—some 3.2 million hectares—is held by just 433 owners, including estates, corporations and trusts. Community bodies, by contrast, own only around 2.8% of rural land. Campaigners argue that this extreme concentration has remained largely unchanged since the early 20th century, resulting in 'localised monopoly' power in some areas. However, in response to the Scottish Government's consultation, Scottish Land and Estates argued there is no substantial evidence that the scale of landholdings negatively impacts the country. They said scale and concentration should be treated as separate issues. 'There appears to be no evidence that there is a detrimental impact on Scotland due to the scale of land holdings,' they said. ' The Scottish Land Commission's own evidence points to the issue being potentially one of concentrated land ownership in specific areas, rather than scale itself. Therefore any measure of scale will always be an inappropriate instrument in dealing with any adverse impacts on communities or the prosperity of Scotland in a wider context.' READ MORE Ms Villalba said:'To deal with the serious problem of concentrated land ownership, we need a radical shift that prioritises community benefit and empowers local people to shape the future of their land, rather than merely tinkering round the edges. 'Today, Scotland's land is concentrated in the hands of the new nobility—asset managers, foreign billionaires, and the inheritors of huge estates. Just 0.025% of the population own 67% of our countryside. 'This Bill presents a chance to change that, break the ultra-wealthy's grasp on Scotland's resources and build a fairer, more prosperous Scotland for all of us. But currently it simply does not meet the scale of the challenge. 'That is why the proposals must include a presumed limit on ownership over 500 hectares, unless it is in the public interest. 'Without a meaningful public interest test, we risk allowing land to be sold or managed in ways that benefit private interests at the expense of the public good. We need a mechanism that ensures that decisions about land are made with the long-term wellbeing of our communities at heart.'
Canberra Times
02-06-2025
- Health
- Canberra Times
Doctors said their pain was 'in your head' for years, until this surgeon came along
Chronic pelvic pain affects up to 25 per cent of women of reproductive age and nearly half of Australian women at some point in their lives. Dr Villalba's patients had Pelvic Congestion Syndrome (varicose veins in the pelvis), which is increasingly being recognised as a main contributor to chronic pelvic pain - with some research attributing a third of cases to it.
Sydney Morning Herald
24-05-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I was alive but not living': The chance discovery that saved Lilli chronic pelvic pain
'What did you do to me?' is not a phrase doctors want to hear from a patient after surgery. But for vascular surgeon Laurencia Villalba, it became a welcome pattern among her female patients with varicose veins. 'I'd answer, 'I fixed your leg', and they would say, 'but the pelvic pain is gone too',' said associate professor Villalba, an honorary fellow at the University of Wollongong's faculty of Science, Medicine and Health. Persistent pelvic pain affects between 15 and 25 per cent of Australian women. But research into the poorly understood, complex and multifactorial causes is underfunded, leaving an estimated 50 per cent of cases undiagnosed. 'So, I started looking more closely and asking more questions, and I soon realised that a lot of my patients had chronic pelvic pain that had not been diagnosed, or treated or even investigated,' Villalba said. Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) is among the chronically under-researched contributors to chronic pelvic pain. It's characterised by damage to the major veins that run through the pelvis, restricting blood flow and causing pressure to build up. Some studies suggest this may contribute to 30 to 40 per cent of chronic pelvic pain cases where no other cause (such as endometriosis) can be identified. Loading One promising treatment is stenting, which involves inserting a small mesh tube to open a narrowing or blocked vein. The technique is more commonly associated with repairing the arteries of cardiovascular patients. A recent study, led by Villalba, followed 113 women (aged 17 to 88) with a blockage in an iliac vein – major veins running from each leg through the pelvis – who underwent stenting after suffering severe pelvic pain, some for up to 25 years. Before stenting, the women's median pain score was seven out of 10 (10 being the most severe).
The Age
24-05-2025
- Health
- The Age
‘I was alive but not living': The chance discovery that saved Lilli chronic pelvic pain
'What did you do to me?' is not a phrase doctors want to hear from a patient after surgery. But for vascular surgeon Laurencia Villalba, it became a welcome pattern among her female patients with varicose veins. 'I'd answer, 'I fixed your leg', and they would say, 'but the pelvic pain is gone too',' said associate professor Villalba, an honorary fellow at the University of Wollongong's faculty of Science, Medicine and Health. Persistent pelvic pain affects between 15 and 25 per cent of Australian women. But research into the poorly understood, complex and multifactorial causes is underfunded, leaving an estimated 50 per cent of cases undiagnosed. 'So, I started looking more closely and asking more questions, and I soon realised that a lot of my patients had chronic pelvic pain that had not been diagnosed, or treated or even investigated,' Villalba said. Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) is among the chronically under-researched contributors to chronic pelvic pain. It's characterised by damage to the major veins that run through the pelvis, restricting blood flow and causing pressure to build up. Some studies suggest this may contribute to 30 to 40 per cent of chronic pelvic pain cases where no other cause (such as endometriosis) can be identified. Loading One promising treatment is stenting, which involves inserting a small mesh tube to open a narrowing or blocked vein. The technique is more commonly associated with repairing the arteries of cardiovascular patients. A recent study, led by Villalba, followed 113 women (aged 17 to 88) with a blockage in an iliac vein – major veins running from each leg through the pelvis – who underwent stenting after suffering severe pelvic pain, some for up to 25 years. Before stenting, the women's median pain score was seven out of 10 (10 being the most severe).
