Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Concerns raised over rural land ownership issue

The Scottish Tenant Farmers Association is backing change.
The Scottish Tenant Farmers Association is backing change.

Concentrated land ownership is causing “significant and long-term damage” to communities in some parts of Scotland, according to a new report by the Scottish Land Commission (SLC).

The findings follow last year’s call for evidence by the commission from anyone with experience of living or working in places where most of the land is owned by a small number of people.

More than 400 people – including farmers and landowners – submitted evidence.

SLC chief executive Hamish Trench said: “The evidence we have collected shows clearly it is the concentration of power associated with land ownership, rather than necessarily the scale of landholding, that has a significant impact on the public interest, for example in relation to economic opportunities, housing and community development.”

The commission found that where there are adverse economic or social impacts there is little or no method of redress for communities or individuals. It goes on makes a series of recommendations, including a public interest test for significant land transfers.

The commission also calls for changes in either ownership and/or management practice to protect fragile rural communities from the “irresponsible exercise of power” and more diverse private ownership to help achieve land reform objectives.

The report was welcomed by the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA) which said it was “acutely aware” of the impact a monopoly of landownership can have on the sector,

STFA chairman Christopher Nicholson said: “In particular we welcome the report’s recommendation that local communities should be allowed a greater role in influencing the planning and decision-making process, particularly where it involves land-use change in their locality.

“Large-scale conversion of agricultural land to forestry, for example, should be subject to planning constraints and should not take place without the agreement of local people, especially where it alters the character of the area and involves the displacement of tenant farmers and others to make way for tree planting.”

Landowners organisation, Scottish Land and Estates (SLE), called for more detailed examples to support the findings that concentrated land ownership is damaging fragile communities and insisted land reform passed in 2016 should be given time to bed in before further measures are considered.

SLE executive director Sarah-Jane Laing said: “The stereotypical view of landowners held by some simply does not reflect current day reality.

NFU Scotland (NFUS) president Andrew McCornick said land use rather than ownership should be the focus of policy direction.

He added: “Farmers will be concerned that the report implies there could be even more interference in how they go about farming. Farming is difficult without others interfering with normal daily practices.”

nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk