Scottish Government land reform plans 'lacking vision' says north MSP
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A NORTH MSP has accused the Scottish Government of "lacking vision " when it comes to plans for land reform.
Rhoda Grant, the Labour MSP for the Highlands and Islands, said the SNP government offered "timid promises" regarding its proposals.
She branded the plans as "contracting ambition not expanding ambition"and pointed out that 0.027 per cent of the Scottish population owns 67 pe cent of Scottish land.
Mrs Grant suggested that the Scottish Government endorse Mercedes Villalba’s Land Ownership Bill which would see land transfers over a 500-hectare limit be subject to a public interest test.
The Bill has been backed by previous Cabinet Secretaries Peter Peacock and Mike Russell who called for radical land reform measures.
Mrs Grant claimed there are great opportunities for community ownership if the Community Right to Buy was updated with fewer hurdles and was less confusing.
Speaking after the debate in Holyrood, she said: "Scotland requires radical unapologetic Land Reform however, this Programme for Government offers timid promises.
"To see the majority of Scottish Land be in the hands of a few rich lairds is shameful. This land could be used to benefit the communities that use it and to better our environment and our planet. Mercedes Villalba’s Land Ownership Bill offers progressive change and I hope the Government will see that."
Mrs Grant previously urged the Scottish Government "to end public subsidies to landowners who do not live on the land and pay their taxes in the UK."
She called for communities to be protected from off-market land sales by so called 'green lairds' – businesses or wealthy private purchasers who buy up land in Scotland to offset their carbon emissions. They have peatland restored or land planted with thousands of trees.
Mrs Grant is concerned these increasing purchases can stop communities from buying local land and quizzed the Scottish Government on how it is going to tackle off-market sales of Scottish land – property which may not reach the open market – to these 'green lairds'.
