A more ambitious and progressive approach to land reform would be an ‘easy first win’ for the incoming First Minister and his minority government, according to organisations championing community ownership of land in Scotland.
Independent polling research by Diffley Partnership, for Community Land Scotland and the REVIVE Coalition, show a clear majority of Scots want land reform policies to go much further than the Land Reform Bill currently proposed by the Scottish Government.
The research, published today, shows support for land reform and community ownership is higher than expected with little opposition. This suggests a more ambitious approach legislation, that actively empowers Scotland’s communities, is likely to attract widespread, cross-party support.
The research found that nearly three quarters of respondents agreed that the Scottish Government should compel landowners to keep wealth and income in the local community and to meet climate and biodiversity targets, while a clear majority (56%) agreed that a land tax should be implemented.
Dr Josh Doble, Policy Manager for Community Land Scotland said:
“These results show that being more ambitious on land reform would be an easy win for First Minister Swinney.
“There is very clear, very strong support for communities to have more control over land use decisions and for there to be much tighter restrictions on who can buy Scotland’s land.
“Scotland has the most unequal land ownership in Europe, and land ownership is being concentrated further by investment groups and big business dominating the land markets to invest in commercial forestry and speculative carbon markets. This is artificially inflating the price of land beyond the reach of ordinary people and communities.
“This research demonstrates an opportunity for ambitious and progressive political leadership to ensure the current Land Reform Bill goes further and delivers the widespread and transformational land reform that Scotland has needed for generations.”
Max Wiszniewski, Campaign Manager for the REVIVE coalition said:
“As it stands, the Land Reform Bill can achieve some useful things when it comes to giving local people more of a say in land management – which this polling shows people support – but it’s clear the Scottish people back measures that will accelerate Scotland’s land reform journey faster and more effectively than is being currently offered.
“Scotland can’t continue to be a playground for the benefit of a few people who want to shoot animals for sport, to manage it intensively or to act against the interests of local people.
“Taking meaningful action like introducing land taxes, capping the amount of land ownership and compelling landowners to meet climate and biodiversity targets, will clearly be met with widespread public support and surprisingly little opposition.
John Swinney will also be aware of the immense support within his own party for real and land reform and so we hope the new Government will show some real ambition on this.”
Mhairi McFarlane, Research Manager for Diffley Partnership said:
“Our research shows that four in five Scots (79%) want more of a say in what happens to local land and that three quarters (73%) support the idea that landowners should be forced to keep wealth and income in the local community.
“This serves as a reminder that, when it comes to issues of land ownership, most people want to be at the centre of decision-making in their area.
“Moreover, the full breadth of Scotland must be considered in any proposed reform given that three-quarters of Scots (75%) believe land reform should cover all of Scotland, not just rural areas.”
Key Findings
Of those who expressed an opinion, the research found that:
- Net support for community land ownership 73%, net opposition 4%
- Net support for land reform was 61%, net opposition 9%
Respondents were then invited to agree or disagree with a range of statements, which included:
“The Scottish Government should compel landowners to keep wealth and income in the local community and to meet climate and biodiversity targets” Net agree 73%, net disagree 10%
“The Scottish Government should introduce a total limit on the amount of land one person or business can own in Scotland” Net agree 67%, net disagree 16%
“The Scottish Government should implement a land tax on estates to help with land reform and community buyouts” Net agree 56%, net disagree 19%
Details of the research can be found at: https://diffleypartnership.co.uk/land-reform-in-scotland
Background
The Scottish Government’s Land Reform Bill was introduced to parliament on 13 March 2024 proposing a range of changes to how land is owned and managed in rural and island communities.
Scotland currently has some of the loosest land purchase rules in Europe. Land reform campaigners say that while the Bill acknowledges the highly concentrated nature of Scotland’s land ownership, the proposed legislation won’t be enough to correct Scotland’s unique problems with the scale and concentration of land ownership.
Previously published research by prominent land reform campaigner Andy Wightman has shown that just 433 landowners own half of Scotland’s private land. Meanwhile, only 3 percent of Scotland’s land is community owned. Community Land Scotland have launched a campaign for 10% of Scotland to be community owned by 2030.
