Land reform cannot be allowed to decimate investment in Scotland

Press Release

Scottish Land & Estates, the rural business organisation, has called for common sense to be returned to the land reform debate after calls from campaigners to ramp up  measures proposed in the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, which could  decimate investment in rural Scotland.

Before a Parliamentary committee  today on Stage 1 of the Bill, campaigners called for even more radical changes to land management and ownership, which would pose a significant threat to rural businesses and rural communities. Private investment in rural areas is absolutely vital for environmental progress and economic development, the organisation reports.   

Sarah-Jane Laing, chief executive of Scottish Land & Estates, said: “We’ve had more than 20 years of  land reform legislation in Scotland, much of which has been embraced by estate owners.  These are the diverse rural businesses which are at the forefront of delivering the government’s objectives in terms of woodland creation, peatland restoration, habitat conservation, food production and carbon sequestration, while at the same time facilitating  responsible access and safeguarding jobs in rural areas. We welcome measures that will improve relationships between those living and working in rural Scotland. 

“The committee heard calls for Land Management Plans, rather than being tools for positive engagement and relationship building, to become an additional layer of regulatory burden on large landowners who would be held to account not just by the existing raft of bodies which  regulate their legitimate activities, but also the new Land and Communities Commissioner. Claims made today that compulsory land sales should be used as the ultimate punitive measure against landowners is an unworkable proposition. It flies in the face of all the work that has been undertaken to achieve landscape-scale conservation of moorland, peatland, woodland and river systems. This has the potential to stifle change, innovation and investment in rural Scotland,  as “failure” to deliver would mean punitive measures.  Existing landowners will be terrified they might put a foot wrong while new investment will be stopped in its tracks.

“There is a clear inconsistency behind some of the proposals coming forward around public interest tests and community empowerment. It is often the case that the priorities of the government of the day do not align with that of individual communities concerned about land use in their local area. It is firmly in the interests of communities, landowners and the wider public interest for this legislation to strike the right balance.”

Ms Laing went on to express frustration that many of the claims being made fail to consider the multiple benefits land owners and land based businesses deliver for people, jobs and nature, and urged politicians to consider land reform proposals on the realities of current rural land management practices, rather than unevidenced perceptions.