Meeting of the Parliament 26 March 2025
The member raises an important point. I recognise that the Scottish Government is a significant landowner in Scotland, but I do not believe that there is such a conflict of interest in the proposals that we have introduced.
I want to set out how the proposals in the bill will deliver for communities, small landholders and tenant farmers across Scotland. Land management plans will mean that owners of the largest landholdings will need to engage with local communities and publish a plan showing how they use their land and how that use supports community sustainability and priorities such as climate change. I know that some landowners already do that, but there are also communities that are in the dark about the plans, and even the identity, of the owners of the land on which they live and work. The bill will mean that transparency and community engagement will not depend on a community being lucky enough to have a good landowner.
The bill will also require greater transparency of land sales, expanding options for community right to buy. Large landholdings often do not sell for long periods, meaning that communities can be unprepared or even unaware if the sale takes place off market. Our proposals will mean that local communities are informed and have greater opportunity to make a community right-to-buy application.
Moreover, the bill will, for the first time, give Scottish ministers the power to intervene in large land sales on the basis of the public interest. Where it would help to support local communities, ministers could require land to be sold in a way that allowed for a wider range of buyers. The bill will create the potential to spread opportunity, putting the wellbeing of our rural communities at the heart of decisions on how land of this scale is sold.
Despite the new powers, I know that some people believe that we are not going far enough. I understand the frustrations of those who would like us to go further and faster, and I am listening and stand ready to work across the chamber to build and improve on the provisions in the bill.