Scottish land reform is on the agenda. And the rest of the UK should take note
The ownership and use of land in Scotland has been thrust back on to the political agenda by the publication of the land reform bill, which was introduced to the Scottish parliament on Tuesday. Covering topics as diverse as tenant farming, offshore companies, deer management and common land, the bill represents the latest stage in a much wider programme of reform across urban, rural and marine Scotland.
Aileen McLeod, the SNP minister for land reform, argued: “The introduction of the bill is a significant step forward in ensuring our land is used in the public interest and to the benefit of the people of Scotland. It will also end the stop-start nature of land reform in Scotland that has limited progress.”
The politics of land in Scotland has been ever present, but political action has proceeded in fits and starts. Since the heady days of the first Scottish parliament and the symbolic abolition of feudal tenure, enthusiasm has waned somewhat. But the publication of a report by the Land Reform Review Group in 2014 and the political awakening of the referendum campaign has revitalised the debate.
Understanding what land reform can do for Scotland involves first of all understanding what land reform is actually about. Contrary to how it is often portrayed, it is not a process concerning only community ownership, or farming tenants, or indeed simply rural Scotland. It is a process of reforming the legal, fiscal and administrative framework governing all land in Scotland. It is about how land is owned, occupied, taxed, inherited, and used – from the centre of Glasgow to the island of Rockall in the north Atlantic.
How land is owned, used and governed is vitally important to the wellbeing and prosperity of all who live in this country. Land is a finite resource and should be owned and used in the public interest for the common good of all the people of Scotland. Moreover, in the aftermath of the financial crash and in the midst of a housing crisis, many more people are beginning to realise that misallocation of land and inflated land values contribute to a dysfunctional economy that rewards land speculation and penalises productive investment.
When 432 landowners own half of all the privately owned rural land in the country, when the fate of communities is in the hands of the international property market, when young people cannot afford the land for a house, and when land is held in offshore tax havens, people expect some sort of political response. Scottish ministers have been lukewarm on those matters in recent years but now display an enthusiasm and commitment to the topic that is both refreshing and welcome.
The proposals published this week are measured. They represent real and meaningful interventions in the way in which land is governed. They provide tenant farmers with greater security, give communities greater powers to acquire land they need for economic and social development, re-introduce non-domestic rates on shooting and sporting estates that was abolished in 1994, and establish a Scottish land commission to ensure that focus is maintained on this important political matter.
For centuries, the ownership and control of Scotland’s natural resources was in the hands of a small elite. Their political influence was such that reforms of inheritance law, for instance, have been blocked as an unjustifiable attack on the very fabric of Scottish family life. Vested interests in finance, property and land still promote the idea that changes which have long been normal across continental Europe are somehow extreme and dangerous in Scotland in the 21st century.
When enacted, this bill will mean that the ruler of Dubai will have to start paying tax on his Scottish land, tenant farmers will gain some more security, a commission will ensure that questions of importance are addressed rather than swept under the carpet, and communities will be able to secure vital access to land to ensure their future wellbeing.
With further reform planned for urban land assembly, inheritance law and local property tax, land is well and truly back on the agenda. Scotland today is closer to realising comprehensive land reform than for a very long time. The rest of the UK should take note.
