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Community Land Scotland

Scotland for sale – but who’s buying? The question of land reform

19 January 2025

Land reform in Scotland is often depicted as a divisive political project. It certainly attracts emotional responses, not least from the tiny minority of private landowners who own so much of Scotland and fear a challenge to the status quo.

But for such a profoundly important topic, that sits at the heart of inequality in Scotland, land reform is not widely understood or a prominent enough part of public debate.

This is partly due to the topic often being overly complex, which is a shame for an area of politics which should and could be one of the most exciting and progressive areas of government legislation.

WHAT IS LAND REFORM?

Land reform is about changing the ownership, management and tenure of land. Within Scotland it is aimed at building a fairer distribution of land, with communities in particular owning more land. If more communities had greater control over the land around them, they could prioritise local needs such as housing, new agricultural entrants or renewable energy projects.

The new Land Reform Bill makes its way through Parliament this year. It has the potential to begin changing the outdated Scottish land system, if there is sufficient ambition.

Is Scotland different to other countries?

Landownership in Scotland is dominated by a tiny number of people, companies and corporations. Scotland is a global anomaly in its unjustifiably concentrated landownership. Only 433 landowners own 50% of the private rural land. In contrast less than three percent of Scotland is owned by local communities. Fairer land distribution is the norm through much of Europe. Why shouldn’t it be the case in Scotland?

The changing face of landowners

The past decade has seen the rise of the investor or asset manager landowner, who seeks to maximise portfolio returns from their Scottish land investments for distant shareholders. Gresham House Ltd Partnerships, an international asset manager, is now the third largest private landowner in Scotland as their funds own 53,000 hectares – in lay people’s terms that’s just less than 75,000 football pitches worth of land. Huge areas of Scotland are increasingly owned by companies and wealthy individuals based in tax havens, the US, Scandinavia and the Middle East.

The status quo isn’t working

The dangers of the status quo are evident. Inequality of landownership in Scotland is a key factor in our national housing crisis, our sluggish attempts to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis, and our inequitable agriculture and food system. Landownership monopolies stifle local voices and development – just one example being landowners’ reluctance to allow housing developments in rural communities.

In contrast community landowners have demonstrated how local knowledge and initiative can restore local areas. From Knoydart and Galson in the Highlands and Islands, to Bridgend in Edinburgh, community-owned projects across Scotland have showed a vibrant alternative to private landowners.

We know what the status quo of concentrated private landownership hasn’t delivered. It’s time for a change and the current Land Reform Bill is one means of achieving this.

The new Land Reform Bill

Community Land Scotland believe the legislation could be more ambitious and transformational. However, there are some potentially important steps forward which can start to change our deeply flawed landownership pattern.

More openness on land sales is welcome: Estate agents Strutt and Parker noted that 61% of Scottish land sales were ‘off market’ between 2020-2021. If the wider public don’t know that sales are happening, how can they take part in the market? The new Land Reform Bill recommends public transparency on land sales over 1,000 hectares, with a ‘Prior Notification’ of the sale being sent to communities in the local area. This is very welcome change as it avoids large holdings being sold without the public being aware.

‘Lotting’ at the heart of the controversy: Much noise has been created about the idea of ‘lotting’. Lotting is essentially creating parcels of land out of large estates to allow more people to buy land, this could include community-centric benefits like housing, new crofts or community forestry. Scotland has some truly enormous landholdings. Breaking these into smaller landholdings that more people can own, spreads wealth and opens up opportunities for collaborative land management. This more diverse model exists in much of Europe, why on earth should we assume our antiquated landholdings are more effective?

Size matters: The Bill proposes a ‘Transfer Test’ – which would assess community sustainability – when an landholding over 1000 hectares is being sold. It also proposes Land Management Plans – detailing how the estate will be managed – to be produced by landowners of holdings over a 3000-hectare threshold. These are still huge amounts of land. The threshold for both mechanisms should be aligned at 500 hectares to bring a meaningful number of landholdings into the legislation and actually start to reform the ownership and management of land in Scotland.

Urban Scotland ignored in the Bill: Scotland’s town and cities have benefited from being part of land reform legislation since 2016 and there is now a vibrant community land movement in urban areas such as Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, the current Bill ignores urban areas, even small ones, by focusing on very large estates. Towns and cities are blighted by poor land management and ownership, such as Vacant and Derelict sites owned by developers and often remote or anonymous landowners. It would be a strategic misstep if the new mechanisms didn’t help reform damaging urban landownership.

Scotland for Sale – but Who’s Buying…?

Whilst land reform can seem bureaucratic and unexciting, it is foundational to building a fairer and more equitable society. I would encourage anyone with an interest in a just future to learn about Scottish land reform and get involved in this piece of legislation by speaking to your MSPs and raising your concerns.

In the meantime, Scotland remains for sale to the highest bidder, with precious little oversight of the land market and local people and communities being priced out and their ambitions stifled.