Members of the Scottish Parliament have voted to passed a land reform bill to help reduce land ownership amongst a small number of people and give communities a greater say over privately owned land.
The bill will introduce the creation of a transfer test to ensure the sale or transfer of a landholding larger than 1,000 hectacres is referred to ministers to decide whether it should be divided into lots. Owners who want to sell a large landholding must notify the government, who will notify community groups and give them the option to buy the land. Owners of large landholdings will also be required to publish land management plans for communities, or face a fine of up to £40,000.
While the reforms have been welcomed by campaigners for reform, opponents have said the legislation could infringe on property rights. Patrick Colquhoun, assistant chief executive of Luss Estates, which owns almost 50,000 acres of land around Loch Lomond, said the definition of a large landholding could be reduced from 1,000 hectacres ‘to 500, then it’s 200, then it’s 10, then it’s five and suddenly your plot at home, your garden ground could be under threat’.
Scottish Conservative rural affairs spokesperson Tim Eagle said the bill is ‘unworkable and devastating’ and would damage rural businesses, while Don Macleod, head of land and property at law firm Turcan Connell called the bull ‘junk’, ‘unworkable’ and impossible’.
However, campaigners for land reform have said the bill doesn’t go far enough. ‘We support any improvements to Scotland’s land management, but this weak bill is largely tinkering around the edges’, Scottish Labour rural affairs spokeswoman Rhoda Grant said:
“The only significant change is to introduce untested lotting provisions and to take steps to stop off-market sales.”
Although the bill has been passed by the Scottish parliament, no date has been set for enactment. Key details – including the description of a large landholding – could be altered by secondary legislation.
