Tha obair mhòr fhathast a dhìth air ath-leasachaidh an fhearainn

Tha e dualtach smaoineachadh gur e Achd Ath-leasachaidh an Fhearainn fear dhe na rudan as soirbheachaile a nochd bho chaidh Pàrlamaid na h-Alba a stèidheachadh agus e a’ toirt na cumhachd dha coimhearsnachdan sealbh fhaighinn air an fhearann aca fhèin.

Oifisean Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn ann an ceann-a-tuath Leòdhais. Tha iad am measg nan coimhearsnachdan eileanach a tha air sealbh a ghabhail air an fhearann. (Dealbh: Fiona Rennie)

[English-language version below]

Tha e fìor a ràdh nach fhaiceadh a leithid solas an là aig Westminster, ach a bharrachd air a sin, bu chòirear a bhith faiceallach mu bhith a' dèanamnh cus mu dheidhinn.

Far an robh e feumail, ‘s ann a bhith a’ toirt air cuid a dh’uachdaranan am fearann aca a reic ri coimhearsnachdan far an robh e soilleir gun robh taic anns an àite agus bha sin gu sònraichte fìor ann an cuid a choimhearsnachdan croitearachd, mar na h-Eileanan Siar.

Ach, cha robh ann an sin ach turchartas leis an Achd fhèin: far an robh uachdran nach robh deònach reic, cha robh e gu mòran feum.

Dha-rìribh, tha cuid a dh’eòlaichean air a ràdh, mar an Dr Mìcheal Foxley, nach biodh a leithid Asainte, no Eige no Cnòideart idir air tachairt nam biodh aig na coimhearsnachdan sin ris na riaghailtean toinnte a tha anns an Achd a leantainn.

Tha sin na adhbhar mòr carson, a thuilleadh air na h-Eileanan an Iar, nach eil mòran idir air tachairt.

Tha Achd ùr a' tighinn agus e gu bhith na chothrom cùisean a chur ceart, a sèidheachadh air a’ bhonn a chaidh a dhealbhadh dha an toiseach; ‘s e sin, ath-nuadhachadh a thoirt air mar a thathas a’ riaghladh fearann na h-Alba.

Ach, chan eil e a’ coimhead ro dhòchasach. Tha Fearann Coimhearsnachd na h-Alba air a ràdh, mar a tha am Bile an-dràsta, cha mhòr gun fhiach e am pàipear air a bheil e sgrìobhte agus anns an eadar-ama, tha prìsean air sìor dhol am meud agus an uimhir a’ ceannach fearann ann an Alba airson an làmhan fhaighinn air airgead na h-àrainneachd. Tha iad ag ràdh as aonais atharrachaidh bhunaitich gum bi e do-dhèanta dha coimhearsnachdan am fearann aca a cheannach sam àm ri teachd.

Le Bile ùr air an t-slighe, dh’fhaodadh na Buill-Phàrlamaid nas miosa a dhèanamh na sùil mhionaideach a thoirt air dè tha a’ tachairt anns na h-Eileanan an Iar, an aon àite ann an Alba far a bheil e ri fhaighinn gu bitheanta.

Mar a dh’innseas na daoine anns na coimhearsnachdan sin glè mhath, chan eil làmhan fhaighinn air an fhearann na fhreagairt airson càil sam bith ann fhèin, ach tha e a’ cuideachadh ann an a bhith a’ brosnachadh dhaoine a dhol an sàs ann an gnothaichean agus smaoineachadh air dè ghabhas a dhèanamh. Mar eisimpleir, a bhith a' cur air adhart làraich airson taighean agus, mar a bha gu sònraichte follaiseach aig àm Còbhaid, iomairtean a tha cuideachadh iadsan nach eil cho math dheth.

Aon uair ‘s gum bi tuigse air am feum a ghabhas a dhèanamh, ‘s e an-ath-cheum reachdas a chur air dòigh son a sgaoileadh fad is farsaing.

Ach, bidh feum air feallsanachd a tha radaigeach agus gu mì-fhortanach, rud nach eil idir air a bhith ro fhaicsinneach ann am Pàrlamaid na h-Alba gu ruige seo.

English-language version:

There is a temptation to view land reform legislation as being one of the success stories of the post-devolution era as it provided, in law, for the first time a route for communities to take over the land on which they live. It’s arguable that such provision would ever have seen the light of day under Westminster rule. However, that aside, any cause for celebration should be tempered with reality.

In as much as the new legislation has been useful, it’s only been in an indirect way, as it has helped persuade some of the more enlightened of the land-owning classes to sell to communities where the clear demand exists on the ground. To that end it was useful, even if by accident and only in a marginal way, and generally restricted to places where strong active crofting communities survive, like in the Western Isles.

Overall, however, it has not led to any kind of revolution. Where there is a reluctant seller, or where ownership is obscured through overseas trusts and the like, the new legislation is next to useless. Indeed seasoned observers, such as Dr Michael Foxley, a long-standing campaigner on the issue, and former leader of Highland Council, have pointed out that in the cases of Knoydart, Eigg and Assynt – all celebrated cases and all pre-devolution – they would never have happened if these communities had been forced to jump through the hoops of the Scottish Land Reform Act, which requires a burdensome degree of bureaucracy and engagement with the owner.

It is a large reason why, outside the Western Isles, the movement has effectively ground to a halt – that and extending the Scottish Land Fund, which was initially set up to facilitate buyouts, to support the purchasing of assets (village halls, post offices etc) rather than actual estates. The new Land Reform Bill to be published in the coming weeks is an opportunity to set the dial again – to make it fit for its stated intention, which is to address the inequity in Scotland’s concentrated system of land ownership.

But the omens are not good. Community Land Scotland says that as the Bill stands it’s unlikely to achieve much, while in the meantime land values have soared, largely on the back of a “green-washing” agenda. CLS says that, without radical and far-reaching intervention, community buyouts in the future will be “impossible”.

However, with a new Bill in the offing, the legislators – MSPs essentially – could do a lot worse than have a look at how community ownership is actually working in the only corner of Scotland which has been able to embrace it in any substantive way: ie, the Western Isles. It is, of course (as these communities will happily accept) no panacea on its own, but it helps to engender a sense of the possible on the ground, for example in identifying suitable house sites or, such as in the time of Covid, coordinating collective action to help the less fortunate.

Once the principle of community ownership can be seen to work, as it does, and remaining doubters are persuaded of its merits, the big challenge then will be to provide a functioning legislative framework that will make it possible on a much wider scale and bring the same access to land rights across rural Scotland.

It will require the kind of radicalism that the early agitators of the land reform movement in the Highlands and Islands so passionately believed in, but which has been so disappointingly absent in the Scottish Parliament so far.