Just 433 people own half of Scotland. Here's why that's wrong and must change

Land is as important to life as a home, food or clothing – but you can never build, grow or make more. Land is finite. Yet just 433 people own half of Scotland’s private land, much of which has been passed down through the same families for hundreds of years.

So much land and resources owned by so few people is a shocking statistic, unheard of in the rest of the developed world. But why does this matter? Land ownership and power are closely intertwined. If you own the land, you hold the power.

The Scottish Land Commission, an organisation funded by the government to advance land reform, acknowledges the power imbalance that Scotland’s concentrated land ownership creates can negatively affect local communities.

Foxes, stoats and crows massacred

While some large landowners do good work, for centuries it has been possible for landowners to benefit at the expense of local people, wildlife and the environment. Sometimes bad laws, weak regulations or even public subsidies have encouraged extractive or even damaging behaviour that has led to poor outcomes during a nature, climate and biodiversity crisis.

Landowners have been able to destroy vital peatlands through overgrazing and burning (muirburn) for grouse shooting and sheep and they’re still free to kill hundreds of thousands of foxes, stoats, weasels, crows – even ‘non-target’ species like hedgehogs and badgers – so native wild birds can be shot, by people who enjoy harming animals for sport.

While there have been several important Land Reform Bills introduced to the Scottish Parliament – giving us the right of responsible access and community buyout powers for example – evidence by respected land reform campaigner Andy Wightman suggests that Scotland’s land is now owned by fewer people than ever.

Less than three per cent of Scotland's land is community owned (Picture: Andy Buchanan) | AFP via Getty Images

One of world’s most nature-depleted countries

Those who actively lobby against land reform unsurprisingly claim that bigger is better, that having fewer owners allows for positive change on a far larger scale, or, that it’s not who owns the land that matters, but how it is used.

If this were the case, then it could be argued that Scotland’s 433 landowners have failed. Over half of Scotland is dominated by privately owned estates, while our country remains one of the most nature-depleted in the world.

Moreover, if bigger is better, it could also be argued that most of our land should be in public hands. But only 11 per cent of land is in government ownership and less than three per cent is community owned. Without access to land, rural communities cannot grow to provide homes for the next generation and Scotland cannot build the new, affordable housing it so desperately needs. It chokes the aspirations of our communities and the hopes of our young.

Despite taking up 57 per cent of rural Scotland, private estates provide just three per cent of rural homes. This figure was obtained from recent research published by Scottish Land and Estates. The same report showed that 78 per cent of estates were still involved in ‘country sports’ like grouse and deer shooting.

Sport shooting not that good for economy

The overabundance of deer, for example, is a contentious issue which the Scottish Government and conservationists are seeking to address by reducing their numbers. This should, of course, be done ethically, sustainably and by trained marksmen. However, some large deer shooting estates want to keep their numbers up – so more of them can be shot for sport – causing conflict with those who want to curb their numbers to stop overgrazing and protect trees and biodiversity.

Despite claims from the industry that sport shooting is good for the economy, it only contributes about 0.03 per cent of Scotland’s economy. In other words, if Scotland’s economy was the height of Ben Nevis, sport shooting’s contribution would be the size of a bottle of Irn-Bru. Is this worth all the animal cruelty and environmental devastation that sport shooting still causes to this day?

Land use is about choices, and the consequences of these choices define whether Scotland’s rural economies and rural ecologies thrive or not. Currently, the concentrated ownership of Scotland’s land means that these choices are made by very few people. For the benefit of whom?

A turning point

Instead of this circle of destruction, we need to begin a circle of prosperity to unlock our land’s potential. For that, we need significant land reform that will reshape land ownership and use for the benefit of people, wildlife and the environment. Last week’s Budget announcement of fundamental changes to agricultural property relief was a surprising but interesting move at a UK level which could have consequences for the current pattern of land ownership, but there’s much that the Scottish Government can and should do.

The current Land Reform Bill proceeding through the Scottish Parliament offers a number of useful prospects but a future bill should address the fundamental change that’s required. For example, land taxation of non-residential land would help finance our local authorities, encourage a change in landowner behaviour, and allow for more affordable public buyouts of land.

This is why, at the Revive Coalition’s National Conference for Land Reform on Sunday, we’ll be launching ‘The Big Land Question’. It will be co-hosted by land reform advocate Lesley Riddoch and renowned actor David Hayman, who presented BBC show The Battle for Scotland’s Countryside.

The conference will begin a year-long drive to identify how the ownership and management of Scotland’s land could be improved for the majority. I hope it will mark a turning point in this country’s land reform journey, working towards creating that circle of prosperity which will lead to thousands more jobs, more rural homes, community ownership and increased protection for our wildlife and environment.

Because if we do it right, the next step in land reform could literally change the face of Scotland for the better.

Max Wiszniewski is campaign manager for the Revive Coalition