Charles III William, Duke of Rothesay Swinney government The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP Kate Forbes MSP Sixth session Alison Johnstone MSP Angela Constance MSP Dorothy Bain KC The Rt Hon Lord Carloway KC PC United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections Local elections Referendums Starmer ministry The Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP Land reform in Scotland is the ongoing process by which the ownership of land, its distribution and the law which governs it is modified, reformed and modernised by property and regulatory law.
Policy proposals and an extensive public consultation were published by the LRPG in 1999, the same year that the first elections to the newly devolved Scottish parliament returned a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition.
[7] However, as Scotland's remaining feu duties had been fixed many years previously, inflation meant that by the time of the act's passing their value was, in most cases, effectively nominal.
It creates a framework for responsible access to land and inland water,[13] provided that care was taken not to cause damage or interfere with activities including farming and game stalking.
Access rights apply to any non-motorised activities, including walking, cycling, horse-riding and wild camping.
[21][22] The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 marked the first major piece of land reform legislation to be passed under the SNP government.
Its provisions covered different areas pertaining to community empowerment and public participation in policy and planning, including several related directly to land.
Rather, Scottish ministers may compel a landowner to sell to communities with a registered interest, if they deem the sale likely to contribute to sustainable local development.
Further provisions granted community bodies the right to request to purchase, lease, manage or use land and buildings held by local authorities, Scottish ministers and other Scottish public bodies, of which relevant authorities are required to create and maintain a publicly available register.
[25] In 2013 Richard Lochhead, then Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, announced the launch of the Agricultural Holdings Review, which would examine the situation of land ownership and use, tenant-owner relationships, and all of the relevant legislation.
This permitted Scottish Ministers to approve the purchase of privately owned land by a community body with a registered interest.
[30] Other provisions of the act included new regulations to require persons who control land to be identified, with information obtained to appear in the Land Register of Scotland; the removal of sporting rights exemption from rates, are to be re-valued; and further powers for Scottish Natural Heritage to control deer management.
[35] In August 2013, landowners including the Duke of Roxburghe expressed concerns about the work of the Land Reform Review Group and the focus on community ownership.
The landowners stated that private ownership brought efficiency and greater protection for endangered species from development of land.
The Duke of Roxburghe raised concerns specifically about the economic impacts, and the impact on the agricultural sector, saying: Radical proposals that threaten private property rights and which impact adversely on private enterprise, investment and development or which deprive young aspiring farmers the opportunity to get a firm foothold on the farming ladder would be immensely damaging in our view and act against the interests of the communities involved.Many other landlords opposed the passage of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016.
Mark Coombs, the estate manager of the 33,000 ha (82,000 acres) Queensberry Estate, owned by the 10th Duke of Buccleuch, stated that "there are also concerns if the purpose of changing the ownership is simply to allow another party … to carry out the same activity as is currently being undertaken by the existing owner as this strikes at the essence of ownership rights and suggests a clear move towards a more collectivist political view which is not representative of the body politic of Scotland."
"[37] Seafield and Strathspey Estates argued that land concentration is not a bad thing, as it may lead to more efficient management.
Turcan Connell identified concerns around the implementation of the act and the amount of scrutiny the detailed law would receive.
have been criticized as follows:[39] Land-reform activists claim that the current reform is insufficient as several important amendments were voted down by SNP and Conservative backbenchers, including:[33] In a 2016 article in the journal of the Law Society of Scotland, Douglas Maxwell claims the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill contains poorly-defined terms such as "sustainable development" and "communities" which may place the bill in conflict with international human rights laws, particularly the ECHR Protocol 1, article 1.
In contrast, the Land Reform (Scotland) Acts of 2003 and 2016 grant a collective right-to-buy to entire communities living in a geographical area.