Land Reform Bill

New land reform legislation will aim to change how land is owned and managed in our rural and island communities for the better.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, introduced to Parliament today (14 March 2024), includes measures that will apply to large landholdings of over 1,000 hectares, prohibiting sales in certain cases until Ministers can consider the impact on the local community. This could lead to some landholdings being lotted into smaller parts if that may help local communities.

It will also help to empower communities with more opportunities to own land through introducing advance notice of certain sales from large landholdings. Large landholdings of over 1,000 hectares represent more than 50% of Scotland’s land.

The Bill will also places legal responsibilities on the owners of the very largest landholdings to show how they use their land and how that use contributes to key public policy priorities, such as addressing climate change and protecting and restoring nature. These owners will also have to engage with local communities about how they use the land.

The Bill includes a duty on Scottish Ministers to publish a model Land Management Tenancy which will support people to use and manage land in a way that meets their, and the nation’s, needs. It also includes a number of measures to reform tenant farming and small landholding legislation, providing more opportunities to improve land, to become more sustainable and productive and to ensure that tenants are fairly rewarded for their investment of time and resources in compensation at end of tenancy.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said:

“We do not think it is right that ownership and control of much of Scotland’s land is still in the hands of relatively few people. We want Scotland to have a strong and dynamic relationship between its land and people. 

“We want to be a nation where rights and responsibilities in relation to land and its natural capital are fully recognised and fulfilled.  That was our aim in 2016, and it remains our aim today.

“So, this Bill sets out ambitious proposals to allow the benefits and opportunities of Scotland’s land to be more widely shared.  

“Too often, people and communities feel powerless when the land they live on is sold with no prior warning – this Bill will help to change that. We will introduce measures so that more communities are be given information and the opportunity to take on ownership before sales from landholdings over 1,000 hectares.

“Crucially, when one of these landholdings is being sold, we want government to have the power to step in and require that it be sold in smaller parcels to different people if that will help to make local populations and communities more sustainable.”

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) have produced a blog article which provides an initial overview of what the proposals relating to “land reform” contained in Part 1 Large Land Holdings: Management and Transfer of Ownership look like - SPICe has previously published the following blogs, which consider the origins of large landholding proposals, consultation, and the reaction of key stakeholders - and which can be found here

Background

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill

Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement 2022 – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Land Reform Bill proposals introduce a prohibition on transfer of land over 1,000 hectares where that transfer is not exempt.  In line with community right to buy legislation, this includes transfers for nil value, transfers in pursuance of a court order, transfers between companies in the same group and the other transfers set out in section 40(4) of the Land Reform (Scotland) 2003 Act.