Meeting of the Parliament 16 March 2016
It is concerning to learn that so many of the members who spoke in this afternoon’s debate are standing down. One wonders who will be left to do the hard work that we have been told still requires to be done in the context of the bill.
I pay tribute to the contribution of my colleagues from the Highlands and Islands: Jamie McGrigor, Rob Gibson and Dave Thompson. I also pay tribute to Alex Fergusson, who has served this Parliament well, not just as a member of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee but as Presiding Officer. I will miss his warmth and humour, albeit that I cannot agree with him on this bill, which I will be pleased to see passed tonight.
The bill is another step along the long road to land reform. It has taken a long time to get this far, but I hope that the Scottish land commission, which the bill establishes, will give the matter priority. Land reform is not an end in itself; it is for a purpose—although there is something very wrong when so few people own so much of Scotland. Land reform is about local empowerment, not for power itself but to give people the means to build their own economies and deliver jobs and futures for their communities.
Land and access to it are economic drivers. We need only look at the difference that community ownership has made in the areas where it has happened: economies are growing, housing is being provided, there are more jobs and people are returning. The people in charge are using those levers to grow their communities and give them confidence. No one says that that is easy. A huge amount of hard work has been required for the people who, in the words of Allan MacRae, “won the land”. Each community has needed to develop leadership skills and raise finance. There is a huge responsibility for the people who lead on bids to take land into community ownership.
Those who are opposed to the principle of land reform will point to areas where mistakes have been made and where communities have disagreed about the way forward. I ask them to look at the alternative; I wonder whether those communities would have survived if they had not had community ownership. Debate and disagreement are to be expected, but board members are democratically elected, so if someone does not like the direction of travel they can change it. That option is not available to people who do not even know who owns their estate.
I welcome the setting up of the Scottish land commission, which I hope will provide an impetus for continuing land reform and community empowerment. I hope that the commission will consider not only rural Scotland but urban Scotland. Many of the same problems to do with top-down power are experienced in our most deprived areas, and giving people in such areas access to their land and the power to decide what they need locally will have the same impact that community ownership has had in rural areas.
Our most deprived areas lack empowerment, and that manifests itself in a number of ways, not least in poorer health and shorter life expectancy. For that reason, it is of the utmost importance to ensure that the right people are involved in the commission. The land reform review group did not work initially, and it was only when Jim Hunter expressed his frustration and left that the Scottish Government took the issue seriously. We need people who will see the potential and take action. There is a wealth of experience out there that we need to harness, giving people the wherewithal to make lasting changes.
It is disappointing that we are consulting again on registering beneficial ownership. There have been a number of missed opportunities in that regard, including this bill and our work to set up the Scottish land register. I acknowledge that the bill provides that the Scottish Government must legislate for a register. We need to get that right. I have had cases of communities being prevented from proceeding with developments because they cannot get the permission that they need from the landowner and they do not know who owns the land or how they can be contacted.
Our land ownership pattern is unbalanced and it lacks transparency, which raises the question of why there should be such secrecy. What is not a secret is that many estates are bought as a tax avoidance measure and not for the good of the community. Too many lives depend on the running of estates for them to be owned by people or organisations that have no interest in their communities and their wellbeing.
I also hope that the commission will look at repopulation. The purpose of land reform is to build our local communities and to do that we need people. For too long many parts of the Highlands and Islands have been left without people. Many areas have never been repopulated after they were decimated by the clearances, and that simply is not right. We need to take steps to repopulate the Highlands and Islands. It is in the public interest, and therefore it can happen.
It is also something that we need to charge our enterprise companies with. We have an ageing population, and our young people need opportunities to allow them to stay.
Land reform has to be the driver for repopulation. In the areas where it has happened, it has been a driver for economic growth and for opportunity. That is the purpose of land reform, and it is in the public interest. I am proud to have sat in a Parliament that recognised the importance of land reform. The Parliament led the way in our first session, and now we are making progress again. Let us continue to build on that progress to create vibrant and sustainable communities.
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