Meeting of the Parliament 21 March 2019
Land reform is a subject that has been relevant to Scotland for several hundred years, and I have to say that it sometimes seems as though I have been talking about it for several hundred years. However, the pace of change has been stepped up since the inception of the Parliament. We have legislated to enable communities to buy land, to establish the Scottish Land Commission and to require ministers to set out their vision for land reform through the Scottish land rights and responsibilities statement, which was published in September 2017. It is the first statement of its kind anywhere in the world, and it sets out a vision of a strong and dynamic relationship between Scotland’s land and its people whereby all land contributes to a modern and successful country and land rights and responsibilities are recognised and fulfilled.
In the foreword to the statement, I say that Scotland’s land is
“one of our most valuable assets.”
That remains true. Our land is at the heart of our environment, and it makes an important contribution to our economy in countless ways. It supports the lives that we lead, whether through housing, recreation, the production of food or any one of a myriad other ways. Land is vital to Scotland’s inclusive and sustainable economic growth and to social justice. Despite that, our relationship with land is unbalanced and has been for hundreds of years. Too much of our land is still owned by too few people; too much of our land—in both rural and urban areas—is unproductive; and too few of us are able to influence decisions about the use and management of land. Addressing those issues is at the core of the Scottish Government’s land reform agenda.
Some people think that the statement is not strong enough, while others think that it goes too far. I believe that the statement is an ambitious encapsulation of land reform. It is right that we challenge landowners to take their responsibilities seriously and that we expect good practice from everyone who makes decisions about land. I am determined that the land reform agenda will bring about real change that tackles deep-seated problems and finally allows everyone to benefit from Scotland’s land. The land rights and responsibilities statement will be at the core of our approach.
Community ownership has long been a prime focus for reformers, and the Scottish Government continues to support communities to take ownership of land and assets. Three forms of community right to buy are already in force and a fourth is being developed, and a healthy queue of communities are seeking to acquire land and assets for the long-term benefit of the community. The Scottish land fund provides £10 million per year to support communities and is an important part of the community ownership landscape. Communities do not need to use right-to-buy mechanisms to access the fund, and, this year, it will invest more than ever before, helping communities to take ownership of the land and buildings that matter to them.
To mark the 100th award made by the Scottish land fund, I recently visited the Pyramid in Anderston, Glasgow, which is an excellent example of a listed 20th-century church. The Pyramid has long served as a community hub, and it has now been bought by the community. It is significant that that award was made to a community in an urban area, as community right-to-buy legislation originally reflected the history of land reform and applied only to rural areas. However, as the value of community ownership became increasingly apparent, the Scottish Parliament legislated to extend the community right to buy to communities in urban areas. That the 100th award was made to a community in Glasgow for a mid-20th century church shows just how far community ownership has come.
Applications to the Scottish land fund are increasingly being made for smaller, more discrete projects that have specific purposes. Especially in urban areas, those projects might cover only small areas of land but the contribution that they make to the community can be huge. For that reason, as was recently recommended by the Scottish Land Commission, we will now seek to measure the growth of community ownership primarily by the number of communities who own land and assets rather than by the amount of land that is owned.