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Near Dalmellington
Photograph by
Islay McLeod
Law at a crawl (1)
Colin McEachran and
Clare Donaldson
Law at a crawl (1)
Colin McEachran and
Clare Donaldson
Law at a crawl (2)
Bruce Gardner
Law at a crawl (2)
Bruce Gardner
Harris crofter. Photograph by Islay McLeod
It seems to be in the nature of Scotland to pursue the quest for greater social justice, fighting for greater equality. The pursuit of greater social justice spans almost every aspect of public policy, closing the gap in educational attainment, combating health inequalities, spreading the opportunity for work, securing better housing, battling injustice, inequality and discrimination in all its forms. A focus on greater social justice is in part what defines us as a nation.
There is still a way to go, and this could be no truer than when it comes to land ownership. In this dimension of our national life, Scotland would sit at or close to the foot of any international league table, lagging centuries behind many of our European neighbours and much of the rest of the world.
Can it be right that into the second decade of the 21st century 0.025% of Scotland’s population owns 67% of Scotland’s private rural land, that half of the entire country is held by just 608 owners, that fewer than 20 people own 10% of Scotland? More importantly would it be right that a Scotland that holds social justice close to its heart could think that in 20, or 50, years we will have largely the same land ownership patterns?
Sadly, the evidence is that despite the significant and important land reforming measures taken in the past 15 years, little change to Scotland’s grossly inequitable pattern of land ownership has occurred. Of course, behind the statistics lie real social effects on people and communities. There has been a dramatic decline in the population of the Highlands and Islands over generations while the interests of the private owners prevailed, with lost farm tenancies and an inadequate supply of new tenancies to support families and communities across Scotland. All happening while these private owners attract vast sums of public money in tax breaks and subsidies helping them retain the privileges of the land they control.
The purpose of land reform is not to be able to present a national score card on land holdings that looks more equitable, the purpose is to distribute power and influence more widely and effectively, to release economic and social development potential and opportunity. Giving more people access to the wealth of the land, is to widen opportunity and contribute to creating a more socially just Scotland.
More radical land reform is required. A new balance is needed which gives much more weight to the interests of communities in pursuing sustainable futures. Only parliament and the law can underpin the necessary change and without the force of the law, expect nothing much to change.
We are soon to see the first insights of a group established by the Scottish Government to examine how, not whether, further land reform can be advanced. They have been invited to be ‘radical’ and they need to recognise that successful land reform is about changing the balance of current interests, so it will be necessarily unpopular in certain quarters.
Largely on the periphery of Scotland something very remarkable and positive has been happening as community after community has voted to take ownership of their land. Those communities are now helping fashion a new future, houses are being built, energy is being generated, new work-spaces and agricultural land holdings are being created, driven by local people with the common interest of securing a sustainable future. In some places generations of population decline is turning to population growth.
But, however encouraging the changes are, they are only at the very margins in changing Scotland’s land ownership patterns and allowing more diverse ownership and more economic and social advance by more communities. Many of the recent purchases achieved or being currently negotiated are in crofting areas where the right to buy the land, even when the owner does not want to sell, has brought owners to the table and deals have been negotiated which suit all parties. I am in no doubt little would have happened without the power of the law sitting in the background and creating the incentive for negotiation. In this simple equation lies the clue to what needs to happen much more widely across Scotland if real change is to be achieved.
The private interests in land will of course be going all out to protect those interests. They know they no longer have the House of Lords to block any chance of change and the Scottish Parliament has the powers to deliver further real change right now. So, they will argue all is really well, they are doing the right thing by communities, they are effective curators of the land and are job creating, they would welcome more community involvement in planning and partnerships with communities. All designed to say there is really no need for further change.
The communities I know which are making remarkable progress since taking ownership of their land would see greater community involvement in planning and partnerships with estates as of no value when compared to what is possible with ownership. It is the ownership that is decisive and nothing less is even faintly comparable.