Fears over land limit
Government has not ruled out proposals to impose restrictions
ONE of the most controversial land reforms ever proposed in Scotland could yet be resurrected.
The plan to impose an upper limit on the amount of land any one person can own was the recommendation from the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Review group last year. The Conservatives said such a legally-backed maximum would “strike fear in the heart of every single land-owning Scot, whether they own 10 acres or 10,000”.
But it was not included in the subsequent public consultation or the land reform Bill published last month. This disappointed those hoping for a more radical programme that could, for example, facilitate the re-population of some areas cleared of people in the 19th century.
The Bill is about to begin its parliamentary journey through Holyrood. At its heart is the creation of an ostensibly powerful Scot- tish Land Commission. Its function “to ensure the issues of fairness, equality and social justice connected to the ownership of, access to and use of land in Scotland are given a permanent footing.”
According to the terms of the Bill “The commission may do anything which it considers to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the exercise of its functions...”
It goes on to say “In particular, the commission may... acquire and dispose of land...”
The Herald asked the Scottish Government whether ministers could submit the working group’s proposal to establish a maximum legal land holding to the new land commission for consideration.
A spokeswoman said: “The recommendations taken forward in the Bill, such as plans to establish a Land Commission, will set the foundation for an on-going programme of land reform measures. This programme of work could, potentially, include some of the other measures put forward by the Land Reform Review Group which have not been included in the Bill.”
It is certainly not a prospect landowners would welcome, as Douglas McAdam, chief executive of their representative body Scottish Land & Estates, made clear: “As the Bill develops over the coming months, we would expect the Scottish Government to provide an indication of what issues it believes the commission will look at in future. It would provide confidence to land-based businesses to know what Land Reform Review Group recommendations are no longer under active consideration after years of continuing uncertainty in the rural sector.
“On substantive issues such as a limit on the maximum size of land holding, this would need to be dealt with through new legislation in parliament after the commission had considered the matter.”
But Highland historian and land reform advocate, Professor Jim Hunter took a different view.
He said: “What’s needed is a concrete commitment, backed up with proposals, to radically reduce the concentration of ownership.”
‘‘ The commission may do anything which it considers to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the exercise of its functions