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Meeting of the Parliament 14 March 2012

14 Mar 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Malik, Hanzala Lab Glasgow Watch on SPTV

This is an interesting topic. I have witnessed huge amounts of difficulty overseas, in particular for farmers who have smallholdings. When an inheritance has gone unregistered for many years, the true inheritors, what land they own and where it is all need to be identified. We will face similar, historical difficulties here.

However, I want to talk about another area. There is a moral responsibility for some of the larger landholders, particularly in Scotland, to register in order to kick-start the process. That would be welcome. Some of the larger landholders, such as the Scottish Government itself and the Ministry of Defence, need to lead by example.

I got a few ballpark figures on ownership from the Scottish Parliament information centre today. In Scotland, the MOD owns approximately 23,500 hectares, and has 541 hectares, or thereabouts, of land on lease. It also has training rights over a further 120,000 hectares—land for non-exclusive use in military training. That is a lot of land, and I wonder how much of it is registered. The MOD also owns sites of great value, including grade A, B and C listed buildings, and sites of special scientific interest, protected areas, conservation areas and wetlands of international importance. With the shrinking of the armed forces, what will happen to those sites? Will they be returned to the national parks or to communities? Recently, I watched a programme about how the Victorians left us wonderful parks in our cities, which their descendants enjoy today. Will some of the MOD’s sites be left to future generations of our children and grandchildren to enjoy?

The important thing in all of this is registration. If large corporations and other large landholders are encouraged to register, some of our smaller landholders will be encouraged to do so, too, particularly those in our farming community who are challenged at the best of times, and this is a difficult period for them. To support our smaller landholders, I suggest that we ensure that they at least have free registration in the first instance, especially families who have inherited difficulties and have the complicated task of clearing up previously undone business.

Online registration is very important. I was recently overseas, and saw that India and Pakistan—countries that have been in business for fewer than 70 years—are going down that route. We have a lot to learn from some of the people overseas who have already done this. Registration is absolutely fundamental if we are to have proper, accurate records, and we should all be able to access information about who owns what. Without that accuracy, neighbours who have had good relations for generations can fall out over small differences.

I emphasise that we need to lead by example and ensure that our house is in order before we encourage others. More important, we need to force the issue of registration, so that we have accurate records.

14:24

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Meeting of the Parliament 14 March 2012

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