Land Reform Bill ‘must be workable and proportionate’

With Stage 3 of the Land Reform Bill due to begin today, SLE has issued a detailed briefing to MSPs highlighting major flaws in the legislation and warning that many proposed amendments could make the Bill even more damaging.

SLE said it has identified several areas of major concern, including:

• Breaking up estates for sale through lotting and a proposed property transfer test, which together represent a serious and unworkable interference in the land market. These measures lack evidential justification or proportionality and risk deterring much-needed investment across rural Scotland. The Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport (NZET) Committee has already warned that the provisions, as drafted, would fail to deliver the Government’s stated objectives.
• Uncertainty over what landholdings are actually covered by the bill. The bill’s hugely complex mechanism for identifying when a number of smaller holdings could be a large landholding means it will be almost impossible to be sure what land will fall within its remit, with Scottish Ministers and civil servants unable to provide assurances around definitions such as contiguous holdings and connected persons.
• Serious flaws in the proposed prior notification process, which would see the Scottish Government required to alert sales of land and property from large landholdings not only to local communities but anyone anywhere in the world who had expressed an interest in purchase. This effectively places Ministers in the role of a global estate agent, creating significant public costs and complicating conveyancing while offering little tangible benefit to rural Scotland.
• Land Management Plans turning into a bureaucratic nightmare, with a raft of amendments proposing excessive and bureaucratic reporting requirements for large farms and estates. One such amendment would compel annual activity reporting to the Scottish Land Commission, adding unnecessary administrative burden without clear benefit for communities or the environment.

The rural business organisation said that it supports the premise of land delivering increased benefits and opportunities but believes that the Bill in its current form is not fit for implementation and risks deterring investment, stalling rural development and undermining job creation and nature and climate projects across Scotland.

Concerns about the quality of the legislation have also been raised by a wide range of voices – including land reform campaigners such as former Scottish Green MSP Andy Wightman, several parliamentary committees, and rural law and accountancy firms.

Such are the issues with the bill, Mr Wightman has written a joint letter with Don Macleod, the head of property at an Edinburgh law firm, to the cabinet secretary Mairi Gougeon urging her to postpone Stage 3 and return the legislation to committee for further scrutiny.

SLE has also shared formal legal opinion with the Scottish Government to demonstrate significant issues with the drafting of key provisions.

Sarah-Jane Laing, chief executive of Scottish Land & Estates, said: “Research endorsed by the Scottish Government demonstrates that estates generate an estimated £2.4 billion GVA each year for the Scottish economy and support around 57,000 jobs – roughly one in ten rural jobs. The same study described estates as anchors for thriving communities. Research launched by the now Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes also highlighted the benefits of scale for the delivery of renewables, housing, climate and biodiversity.

“The reality is that this Bill, if passed in its current form, risks delivering a hammer blow to that rural economy by discouraging investment, increasing red tape and threatening the break-up of successful estate and large farm and land-based businesses - the very ones who are at the heart of delivering Scottish Government targets and policies.

“We recognise that the Scottish Government wishes to pursue land reform, and there are many aspects we can support. However, the current Bill – and many of the proposed amendments – risk creating bad law. That view is shared by campaigners, legal experts and professionals across finance, property and land management. It may suit some politicians to dismiss the views of landowners but we are far from a lone voice.

“While some deficiencies have been addressed during the Bill’s passage, fundamental issues remain. Certain problems could still be corrected through amendments, but much of the detailed work will fall to secondary legislation, regulation and guidance. The scale and complexity of that task should not be underestimated – it could take years before key elements of the Bill are practically workable, if at all.”