News

Work together to achieve best results for nature – plea to MSPs

Press Release

Scottish Land & Estates (SLE), the rural business organisation, has urged MSPs to work with rural businesses and workers to secure benefits for nature and help reduce the impact of climate change. As the Natural Environment Bill progresses to Stage 2 scrutiny, a considerable number of amendments have been proposed, including some which...

Future forests – protecting woodland from disease and drought in a changing climate

Press Release

Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) is working with Scottish Forestry, Forest Research and Scottish Woodlands to help land managers prepare for the threats to woodland from our changing climate. SLE member Castlemilk & Corrie Estates in Dumfriesshire is at the forefront of planning for a changing climate and is presenting the results of its...

Call for rural exemption as Building Safety Levy threatens housing delivery

Press Release

The Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill risks exacerbating Scotland’s rural housing crisis unless exemptions and safeguards are put in place to protect fragile rural markets, Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) has said. The rural business organisation commented after providing evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public...

Land reform legislation will create bureaucracy and confusion, not change, warns Scottish Land & Estates

Press Release

Scottish Land & Estates, the rural business organisation, has issued the following statement following the completion of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill at the Scottish Parliament. Sarah-Jane Laing, chief executive at Scottish Land & Estates, said: “Perhaps uniquely, this legislation has succeeded in uniting landowners, land reform...

Fear of retrospective legislation driving decline in tenanted land, survey finds

Press Release

A new survey by rural business organisation Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) has revealed that a lack of trust in government policy and fear of retrospective changes to legislation are the biggest barriers to land being let for farming in Scotland. The SLE Agricultural Holdings Member Survey 2025, conducted among estates and farming...

Safeguards needed in Natural Environment Bill to protect nature and rural jobs

Press Release

Rural business organisation Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) is calling for safeguards to be introduced to the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill to protect both nature and rural livelihoods, as the Bill progresses to a debate in the Scottish Parliament on 30 October, ahead of Stage 2 scrutiny. Ross Ewing, Director of Moorland for SLE, said...

Land Reform Bill must be workable and proportionate, warns Scottish Land & Estates

Press Release

The Scottish Parliament must ensure that new land reform legislation is proportionate, evidence-based and workable - or risk delivering a hammer blow to Scotland’s rural economy, Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) has warned. With Stage 3 of the Land Reform Bill due to begin tomorrow, SLE has issued a detailed briefing to MSPs highlighting...

Call for Scottish Government to resist punitive Land Management Plan amendments

Press Release

Scottish Ministers were today urged to rescue their plans to demand rural businesses produce publicly available land management plans or face a ‘bureaucratic nightmare’. The proposals to make owners and operators of landholdings over 1,000 hectares publish land management plans are included in the latest Land Reform Bill which is going...

Farming sector urges Ministers to accept constructive changes to new tenancy legislation

Press Release

Scottish Land & Estates, the rural business organisation, today urged Scottish Government Ministers to ‘act in the true interests’ of the tenant farming sector by accepting amendments to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill that are supported by farmers and the majority of the agricultural sector. The section of the Bill that affects...

Scottish Land & Estates welcomes progress made at first Wildfire Summit

Press Release

Scottish Land & Estates (SLE), the rural business organisation, has praised the commitment to collaborative working at Scotland’s first Wildfire Summit, held today in Grantown-on-Spey. Chaired by Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie and Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown, the event brought together rural stakeholders, gamekeepers...