Paid for by you, £1.4m quango plotting ‘class war’ land grab
A NEW quango has started work on driving forward the SNP’s campaign of ‘class warfare’ against major rural landowners.
The Scottish Land Commission (SLC) will help ministers enact a contentious package of reforms, including the power to force landowners to sell and the ending of tax relief for sporting estates.
The Inverness-based body has been handed an annual budget of £1.4million by the Scottish Government to provide ‘direction, leadership and strategic thought’ on land reform.
Andrew Thin, SLC’s £69,380-a-year chairman, said the body’s first act would be to raise awareness of its role by launching a series of public consultations across Scotland.
But the quango, which began work this week, has been met with hostility by critics opposed to measures contained in the SNP’s Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016.
Tory chief whip John Lamont said: ‘There is a place for ensuring land in Scotland is used to its best possible potential and to the benefit of local communities. However, we can’t forget that the SNP’s determination on this is rooted in dogma.
‘It doesn’t want to make life easier for local people or boost economies across rural Scotland. It wants to appeal to the element of its support who are set on class warfare.’
Under the legislation, landowners could be forced to sell if their ownership is deemed a barrier to ‘sustainable development’ and if failure to push through the transaction would be ‘likely to result in significant harm to that community’.
Information can now also be gathered on people with ‘controlling interests’ in land owned or leased, while business rates relief for sporting estates will be abolished.
A spokesman for the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘Families struggling with household bills expect their hard-earned cash to go towards road maintenance and specialist nurses, not to line the pockets of quango fat cats.’
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has made enacting the legislation a priority, claiming that it is not right that only 432 owners control half the private land in Scotland. The SNP wants to see a million acres in community ownership by 2020.
Mr Thin, who will head a team of five other commissioners, said: ‘We are focused on driving land reform and working towards creating a fairer, more inclusive Scotland, in which everyone has a shared interest in our land and everyone looks out for the interests of others.’ But Douglas McAdam of Scottish Land and Estates said: ‘The debate around land often gets narrowed to one of ownership, and we believe there is a lot to be gained for rural Scotland by focusing on the best use of land that delivers for the rural economy, communities and the environment.’
Roseanna Cunningham, Secretary for Land Reform, said: ‘The SLC will help us to deliver our vision of a fair, inclusive and productive system of land rights and responsibilities that delivers greater public benefits and promotes economic, social and cultural rights.’
‘Doesn’t make life easier’