IS LAND MANAGEMENT THE KEY?

While waiting for Scottish Government’s official response to its recent consultation on a Land Reform Bill, I read that NFU Scotland president Allan Bowie has said that land management, rather than physical ownership, should be an important focus of the ongoing land reform debate. I would agree.

Within Scotland, the primary use of land is agriculture, which underpins our rural economy, the landscape and the social infrastructure. But too often the work of good land managers is overshadowed by the failings of a minority, which are then used as justification by those advocating community buyouts.

While I’m not against many of the key changes being proposed in the Bill, such as improved transparency of land ownership and doubling the amount of land in community ownership, I think it would be wise to proceed with caution.

It would be foolish to lump all landowners in the same basket as those very few wealthy absentee landlords who simply don’t care about the communities that rely on them for their homes and jobs. And by jumping on the bandwagon of a number of enthusiasts who loudly advocate community-ownership, there is a real danger that unless significant thought and consultation is carried out, and safeguards put in place, a number of these buyouts may go the same way as the disastrous buy-out on Gigha.

Not only is the island’s community saddled with massive debt following the financial crisis, but it appears that these difficulties and the huge burden of responsibility being shouldered by a relatively small number of people has split the community.

In situations like this, is the Scottish Government going to bail communities out? It would be a dangerous precedent to set.

GR Brydon, Scottish Borders