Land Reform

There is a crucial lack of pace and breadth in Scotland’s land reform strategies according to a new coalition of organisations representing community groups, environmental bodies and land reformers from across the country. As the Parliament returns after summer recess, and with stage three of

New research highlights concern from across Scotland about the role of industrial forestry corporations and asset management organisations who increasingly dominate the ownership and management of Scotland’s forests. The research concludes that more community ownership and management of woodla

Significant change to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is needed if the Scottish government’s policy objectives for land reform are to be met, according to Holyrood’s Net Zero, Energy & Transport Committee. Although the majority of committee members support the general principles of t

Proposals to address the challenges of concentrated land ownership have been set out by the Scottish government. The new Land Reform (Scotland) Bill includes measures that will apply to large landholdings of over 1,000 hectares, prohibiting sales in certain cases until ministers can consider th

Environmental organisations, community groups, land owners and farmers will be eligible to apply for a share of £1.8 million funding to help grow their nature projects. The Scottish government and NatureScot, working in partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and with support from

Legislation to increase the transparency of land ownership in Scotland has been passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament. The Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land regulations pave the way for the creation of a public database that will provide key information about those wh

Some of the more controversial aspects of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 are to be brought into force by February 28, writes Hamish Lean. These are the long-awaited rules applying to a secure agricultural tenant’s right to relinquish their interest in the tenancy in return for compensatio