Land reform plans threaten to hit taxpayers and Net Zero ambitions

Press Release

The Scottish Government’s new land reform plans threaten to waste millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and jeopardise the drive towards Net Zero.

Land-based businesses across Scotland say key proposals in the forthcoming Land Reform Bill put at risk extensive investment in climate change measures, jobs and community benefits and could trigger a wave of legal disputes over state interference in land sales.

Many rural estates have responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation, which closes on Sunday, October 30.

They say the plans set out in what will be the third land reform bill in 20 years are ‘overkill’ based on ideology with no evidence to support them.

Scottish Land & Estates, which represents rural land businesses, said the Scottish Government’s decision to introduce laws to address the so-called ‘adverse effects’ of large-scale land ownership risks ruining a massive environmental and conservation contribution to Scotland.

Sarah Jane Laing, chief executive of Scottish Land & Estates, said: “The government says it plans transformative change that will benefit communities and the environment. It could have the very opposite effect.”

The Scottish Government plans to introduce a public interest test on the transfer or sale of large-scale landholdings of more than 3,000 hectares or where the ownership is seen to be concentrated in a particular geographical area.

Ms Laing said: “Scale of ownership, whether you are a public or private owner, is crucial to improving the environment through peatland restoration, renewable energy and biodiversity. Scale also provides the platform for vital economic activity in some of our most fragile areas. The Scottish Government has no evidence to support its big is bad position, in fact it has extensive evidence to the contrary.

“We already have a long-accepted mass of legislation that enables communities to acquire land as well as the voluntary transfers of land and properties which continue to happen all over Scotland.  Planning yet more laws and a public interest test that may well result in large scale land sales and acquisitions becoming embroiled in legal disputes and red tape threatens to add millions of pounds to the cost of land reform to the Scottish taxpayer. State interference of this degree in the land market is a minefield and unnecessary, and will do nothing to help us get towards Net Zero.”

Benny Higgins, executive chairman, Buccleuch, said: “Landowners such as Buccleuch have demonstrated clearly their commitment to engaging with communities to help meet their aspirations. We ourselves have recently completed a successful transfer of land to a community body that has stated openly it will achieve its own ambitions better by operating at scale.  The impression that big is by nature bad is deeply flawed when you see what is being achieved through scale. Certainly, we could not deliver projects such as transformation of Dalkeith Country Park if it were not for the scale and diversity of our operations.”

Randal Wilson, manager of Lochrosque and Kinlochewe Estates, Wester Ross, said: “As a family-owned landholding we are committed to doing what we can to help the Scottish Government hit their peatland targets and Net Zero ambitions. We provide renewable energy through several hydro schemes and have managed to do 1500ha of peatland restoration. Clearly, this a large area and we have much more to do. This may not happen if land was fragmented in ownership as new owners may have differing land management objectives.

“The peatland restoration has improved hydro efficiency, reduced water acidity and given greater biodiversity as well as locking up carbon. Scale allows this to happen. Managing land in the round where you have sheep, cattle and deer all managed at sustainable densities allows for productivity and employment, adding to the socio economics of the area. Native woodland expansion has also allowed a range of benefits, all intertwined with integrated land management objectives and again scale is key.”

Click here to read SLE's response to Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation Consultation.