Land Reform Bill Scotland: Will It Be Radical Enough?

This news published by the Celtic League:

Land Reform Bill Scotland: Will It Be Radical Enough?

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

The Scottish Government has launched new proposals for land reform in Scotland . The Move comes following the publication of a report by The Land Reform Review Group last year and a subsequent consultation which took place between 2nd December 2014 and 10th February 2015. The result is the LAND REFORM BILL.

Current estimates are that 430 people control over half the privately-owned land in Scotland an iniquitous situation which the journalist and commentator, Lesley Riddoch, said sometime ago was ‘a matter which should stir every Scot into action’.

Land reform legislation has been often spoken of in recent years and it finally seems that with a secure SNP government it will be delivered. The big question is will it go far enough to redress a centuries old imbalance in land ownership that stretches back to ‘the clearances’. Will vested interests as they have in the past succeed in derailing or neutering the process?

Lesley Riddoch in her article in the Scotsman almost two years ago summed the matter up succinctly when she said:

“People can’t imagine what they’ve never experienced. And most Scots have never experienced owning land. We literally don’t know what we’re missing. We don’t know how living without any expectation of local, democratic control over this basic, natural resource has eaten into our self-confidence. We don’t know how acceptance of massively unequal land ownership has placed a template for inequality at the heart of Scottish public life and a deadening weight on people and their aspirations.”

A link to the full article by Lesley is here.

Details on the Scottish government’s consultation (now closed) are at this link. It contains good background including further links to the Land Reform Group recommendations.

Finally a link to a BBC news report here.

J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information
Celtic League

23/06/15

(Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.)

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