Land Reform Policy Group: Identifying the Problems (February 1998)

2. The case for land reform

2.1 Land is a key resource. The lifechances of people living in rural areas depend on how it is used. All too often in the past, the interests of the majority have been damaged by the interests of the few who control that resource.

2.2 Land reform is needed on grounds of fairness, and to secure the public good. The Group’s initial review of the evidence indicates that present systems of land ownership and management in rural Scotland still serve to inhibit opportunities for local enterprise. Current arrangements have also resulted in serious degradation of the natural heritage in some parts of rural Scotland through poor land management. And the way landholdings are owned and managed can have a critical impact upon the land’s ability to sustain rural populations. The work of the Group should have a liberating effect in freeing up the land resource.

2.3 Nowadays there are many more examples of positive land use in the countryside, sometimes led by local authorities, sometimes by local enterprise companies, sometimes by voluntary organisations, sometimes by local communities, sometimes by landowners, farmers and crofters. But encouraging as these are, they are nonetheless a result of exploiting opportunities as they arise, rather than part of a coherent strategy.

2.4 Land reform legislation should: set out clearly the objectives of land use and therefore of land reform; in the light of that, set out the basis for public sector involvement in land matters; and accordingly, bring together a comprehensive range of measures for removing barriers and promoting positive action.

2.5 The Group proposes that the overriding objective of current rural policy and thus land use should be to foster the sustainable development of rural communities; and the overriding objective of land reform today should be to remove the land-related barriers to that development. Sustainable development is defined as development that is planned with appropriate regard for its longer term consequences, and is geared towards assisting social and economic advances, that can lead to further opportunities and a higher quality of life for rural people whilst protecting the environment. In this context, sustainable development requires an integrated approach to be taken in the key areas of economic, social and environmental policy.

2.6 The public interest in securing sustainable rural development may justify a range of public sector intervention measures to bring about outcomes which would not happen if development was left solely to market forces. Public sector intervention may be: essentially positive: to ensure land is used for the sustainable development of a rural community; or essentially defensive: to save land from alternative use which would be detrimental to the sustainable development of a rural community.

2.7 Public sector intervention can take a wide range of forms. In very specific circumstances there may need to be scope for public acquisition, but wherever possible other mechanisms are to be preferred. The range should include: support and advice to underpin development; data collection to inform decision-making; financial incentives contingent on beneficial land use; legal barriers to adverse activity; and financial penalties to discourage undesirable land use.

2.8 But before measures can be considered, it is necessary to identify the problems which need to be addressed. The Group proposes that the touchstone for relevant problems should be whether they are barriers to the development of thriving and sustainable rural communities; and then that the touchstone for proposals for initiatives or legislation should be whether they will remove such barriers expediently and cost-effectively. Similarly, the Group wishes to identify where real scope exists to improve upon current arrangements for use and settlement of land and related assets; and to explore fresh options which assist local enterprise.

2.9 So what are the problems which need to be tackled? The following Chapters set out what a number of commentators have suggested as being problems, and raise questions about their practical significance and possible solutions.