Land Scotland: Why the Scottish Government wants change around land ownership - Mairi Gougeon

Since 1999, the Scottish Parliament has been on a journey – a journey to simplify and modernise land ownership across the country.

I, and this government, are firmly committed to continuing this journey. We want to see change. We want to ensure that land brings tangible benefits to communities everywhere.

We are already supporting community ownership across Scotland through our Scottish Land Fund and our asset transfer and Community Right to Buy policies. Since 2018, there have been 23 successful Community Right to Buy applications, and over 250 Scottish Land Fund awards to community groups to purchase assets, totalling over £35 million.

Community Right to Buy has now been in use for 20 years. In 2017 we asked the Scottish Land Commission to review the legislation, and since then we’ve made improvements to guidance and application forms in response to feedback. However, as we move forward on our land reform journey, we will look at ways to make this process even easier for communities to access.

Eriboll, near Tongue in the Scottish Highlands - an area that is at the heart of discussions around land ownership. Picture: Steve Cox/Shutterstok.

It is only right that people have a say in how local land and buildings are used – and this focus on community benefits is also true when it comes to investment in Scotland’s natural resources.

Last week the James Hutton Institute published a report that investigated the social and economic impacts of green land investment. The report underlines that investment in and use of Scotland’s natural environment should create benefits that are shared between public, private and community interests.

It is important that we find a balanced approach to investment that supports resilient and thriving rural communities, including our vital agriculture industry and others working on Scotland’s land.

We set out in our Programme for Government 2023/24 our commitment to develop a market framework as the next step in taking forward our distinctive vision in Scotland to support and promote responsible investment in green initiatives that benefit both communities and the environment, whilst also helping us to achieve a just transition.

Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon. Picture: Fraser Bremner - WPA Pool/Getty Images

When it comes to Scotland’s land reform journey, improving these existing schemes are just one part of the action we’re taking. Our new Land Reform Bill aims to improve transparency of ownership, help ensure large scale holdings deliver in the public interest and empower communities by providing more opportunities to own land and have more say in how it is used.

Questions around who owns and benefits from our land have always yielded passionate responses from voices across the whole of society. It is a highly complex and emotive issue and this remains true today. The sheer number and variety of responses to our Land Reform Bill consultation proves this.

But the complexity of this issue, coupled with the myriad of differing views from numerous organisations and individuals, mean that it is clear more time will be needed to ensure that we can fully consider all views and measures put to us.

We are carrying out a series of thorough impact assessments to ensure we fully understand what the effects of various measures will be.

To allow time for this further consideration and ensure we get the proposals right for introduction, we are planning a slight delay to the introduction of the Bill, but it remains a Programme for Government commitment for 2023/24.

We remain fully committed to introducing Land Reform legislation, and to bringing forward measures to ensure that tenant farmers and small landholders are given equality of opportunity to access the new agricultural support framework. When it comes to land reform, we recognise that change is needed – and we are already making good progress through our existing policies.

It is vital that any future changes to legislation are robust and deliver the change needed. I am confident we can find the right path and one that will take us towards the fairer and more equal Scotland we all want to see.