Gill calls for overhaul of Scottish land tenure laws

Only a “full and systematic” review of agricultural holdings legislation will address the continued decline in Scotland’s tenant farming sector, a leading agricultural law expert warned yesterday.

Calling for a major inquiry to be conducted into Scotland’s land tenure system to address shortcomings in the country’s 2016 Land Reform Act, law lord Brian Gill said that the new legislation failed to address the fundamental issues driving the decline the in sector,

Addressing the Scottish Agricultural Arbiters and Valuers Association’s AGM, Gill said that section ten of the act which deals with farm tenancies was exacerbating the current decline in the tenanted sector rather than rectifying it,

He claimed that holdings legislation had been subjected to “sporadic and piecemeal” reform – often based on party politics and usually prompted by some current controversy – ever since the 1948 act had brought in wide-ranging changes aimed at increasing the country’s food security after the privations of the Second World War:

“But over the past 70 years farming has undergone far-reaching structural change and the strategic priorities of today are not the same as those of a war-ravaged economy.”

He said that while the cause of the continued attrition in the sector had been recognised by legislators – including those drawing up the 2016 land reform bill – only the effects had been dealt with rather than the root causes.

“And what the new bill is effectively trying to do is to treat the symptoms without trying to cure the illness,” said Gill.

Stressing that it appeared to be a lack of confidence amongst landowners to let land out that was at the root of the problem, he indicated that while swinging the pendulum in favour of the tenant might help those already in tenancies, it also acted to reduce the number of new leases being granted by landowners.

And with any traditional tenancies which ended most likely to be farmed in hand, this was a major factor in the current decline of the tenanted sector.

He said the lack of confidence among landowners was fuelled by fears they would lose access and control of their land through the creation of secure tenancies – along with the continued persistence of the “spectre of right to buy”.