'Radical' Scottish land reform announced

**Graham** · 11-26-2014, 05:18 PM

'Radical' Scottish land reform announced
26 November BBC Scotland

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced plans to take action against landowners who pose a "barrier" to development.

She also said business rate exemptions for shooting and deerstalking estates would be scrapped as part of a series of "radical" land reforms.

The body which represents landowners criticised the move.

It came as Ms Sturgeon announced her government's plans and new legislation for the year ahead.

It listed 12 new pieces of proposed legislation, as well as a commitment to re-visit alternatives to council tax, which has been frozen in Scotland since 2007.

The government's plans for a Land Reform Bill allow ministers to intervene "where the scale of land ownership or the conduct of a landlord is acting as a barrier to sustainable development".

Ms Sturgeon said the ending rates exemptions for shooting and deerstalking estates, "put in place by the Tories in 1994 to protect the interests of major landowners", would pay for an increase in the fund which supports community land ownership from £3m to £10m a year.

"Scotland's land must be an asset that benefits the many, not the few," said Ms Sturgeon.

However David Johnstone, chairman of Scottish Land and Estates, which speaks for private landowners, said they were already working hard to back Scottish government aims, like as renewable energy, agriculture, housing and tourism.

He said: "Sporting estates are too readily singled out in a negative light, when in fact they are businesses that make a key contribution to rural tourism, local employment and the environment."

Elsewhere, Ms Sturgeon announced:

A Community Charge Debt Bill to end collection of debts from non-payment of the poll tax.
An Education Bill to give new rights to children who may have additional support needs.
A Higher Education Governance Bill to ensure the governing bodies of universities are more transparent.
A Public Health Bill to reduce the availability of tobacco and electronic cigarettes.
A Carers' Bill to increase support for those looking after relatives or loved ones and give them a say in delivery of services they use.
A Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill to clarify the rights of victims and strengthen the ability of the authorities to help them.

As well as legislation, Ms Sturgeon said an independent commission to examine "fairer" alternatives to council tax would begin work in early 2015 and report by autumn next year.

She also set a target to increase the number of students from poorer backgrounds in higher education, saying at least 20% of university entrants should come from the most deprived 20% of the population.

And the first minister said the Scottish government would consult on creating a specific offence of domestic abuse, as well as the possibility of legislation to tackle "revenge porn", the practice of posting intimate photos of people online without their consent.

Ms Sturgeon said: "These plans aim to build a sense of shared endeavour about how we create a wealthier and more equal society. It is founded on three key priorities - participation, prosperity and fairness."

Labour's Jackie Baillie welcomed a government focus on social justice, but added: "I see lots of summits, commissions and conventions in the first minister's statement.

"Perhaps these are the new vehicle for the new consensus, and I welcome that, but it is not a substitute for actually taking action."

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson welcomed plans to double childcare provision from 16 to 30 hours a week by the end of the next parliament and end early automatic release for prisoners.

But she hit out at the governments economic policies, adding: "While I back the rates relief and small business bonus conditions announced today, this government has a far greater number of levers at its disposal which it is not using, or which are hindering or not helping business."

Willie Rennie, of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, argued that, with the independence referendum out of the way, the government's legislation could be judged on its own merits.

"I am now sure that we can find alliances which were perhaps prevented in previous years," he said.

Mr Rennie added: "In that spirit, I can welcome much of today's programme for government."

ANALYSIS
By Brian Taylor, BBC Scotland political editor

Nicola Sturgeon said in advance - not least at the SNP conference - that her aim was to balance the search for social justice with pursuing economic growth.

She said again today in presenting her programme for government that she wanted to achieve "participation, prosperity and fairness".

Perhaps inevitably, it is the rhetoric about fairness and distribution which comes to the fore.

That is partly because it is more eye-catching and ear-grabbing to talk about helping the poor than to calibrate business rates.

It is also partly because of the nature of Nicola Sturgeon.

She stressed she remained a passionate advocate of independence. But she is also fired up by social justice.

It was an effective performance: well presented and substantial.

Much, too, for parliament to be getting on with under current powers.

Ms Sturgeon speculated how much more could be done with enhanced powers. But that is a topic for tomorrow and the Smith Commission.

**Graham** · 11-27-2014, 09:04 PM

Land Reform – the wait is over
http://www.andywightman.com/?p=3975

Nicola Sturgeon today announced the Scottish Government’s legislative programme for the remainder of this Parliament. It contains a proposal for a new Land Reform Bill as well as a Succession Bill and a review of the Council Tax. Announcements of further proposals are expected in the consultation paper to be published next week.

After a decade of absence, it’s great to see the land question back on the political agenda. This is an important, substantial and meaningful set of proposals. Taken as a whole, they will hopefully shift the baseline of the debate – that is to say the set of assumptions and norms that have too often been taken for granted and in which politicians have too often been reluctant to tackle.

In the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government, Scottish Ministers argue that,

“The relationship between the people living in Scotland and the land of Scotland is of fundamental importance. Our aim is to move the debate on land reform from one focused on historic injustices to a modern debate about the current balance of land rights in Scotland and how this can be managed to best deliver for the people of Scotland.”

Amen to that.

Scotland comprises its territory and its people.

How land is owned, used and governed is vitally important to the wellbeing and prosperity of all who live in this country – in particular to those who, because of inflated land values, cannot afford the basic human right of a home. For far too long, the ownership and control of Scotland’s natural resources have been in the hands of a small elite. Their political influence has been such that reforms that would, in any other European country, be regarded as normal, have been dismissed as extreme or an unjustifiable attack on property rights.

As for the proposals themselves, they represent a suite of important reforms.

Topics to be included in the Land Reform Bill include:-

Withdrawing the non-domestic rates exemptions for sporting estates

Sporting rates were abolished by the Conservative Government in 1994 and the non-domestic rates (NDR) on over 90% of Scotland were abolished back in the 1950s. It is clearly inequitable that, whilst the corner shop, the pub and the hairdresser all pay NDR, the multi-million pound assets outside the villages and towns of Scotland pay virtually none with all “agricultural” land (including sporting estates and woodland) removed from the valuation roll altogether.

One of the bizarre consequences of this is that there are Danish landowners who own large areas of land in Scotland who pay land taxes to their home municipalities in Denmark to pay for nice kindergartens for their children. They are asked to contribute no such levies to Scottish local authorities for equivalent services for their employee’s children here.

Powers for Scottish Ministers to intervene where the scale of land ownership and land management decisions are a barrier to local sustainable development

With such a concentrated pattern of private landownership (432 landowners own half of the privately-owned rural land in Scotland) and such an open and unregulated market, it is inevitable that there will be situations where the public interest should intervene. This can be because of local monopolies (where one owner owns most or all of the land in or around a settlement) or where there is a history of neglect and bad practice affecting tenants and others in the community.

A new duty on charity trustees to consult with local communities where decisions on the management and use of land may affect a local community

There are large estates in Scotland that are currently owned through charitable companies (such as Mount Stuart Trust on Bute and the Applecross Trust in Wester Ross) that were set up decades ago to avoid tax. Often they are run by the same family that once owned them and who appoint their friends as Trustees. The local community has no right to join as members and has no legal right to have any stake in the governance or management of the land despite receiving substantial tax benefits through charitable status and non-domestic rates exemptions.

A new Land Reform Commission to develop the the evidence base for future reform, to support public debate and to hold this and future Governments to account

Land reform is a topic that has been neglected for some time. It is also a topic that cuts across many areas of public policy such as housing, fiscal policy, regeneration, community development, agriculture, forestry etc. it is to be welcomed that the Scottish Government is willing to appoint a Commission to “hold this and future governments to account”!

A land information system to provide transparent, comprehensive and freely available data and information on the ownership, occupation, value and use of land

Scotland has a wealth of data on many aspects of land but they are disparate, costly to get hold of and difficult to interpret. Explore the Cadastral portal for the state of Montana to see what a modern land information system should look like.
Other reforms include:-

A review of the land and property tax that affects most people – the highly regressive council tax

The announcement of the long awaited reform of the council tax is welcome. To many people this might seem a totally separate topic but houses sit on land and how that land and property is taxed has a significant impact on perhaps the most important land market to most people – the housing market.

This regressive tax should be replaced by a far more progressive and equitable framework based on the findings of the Mirrlees Review Chapter 16 chaired by Sir James Mirrlees – one of the Scottish Government’s own economic advisers. Whilst no legislation is envisaged this session – a cross-party review will examine alternatives and report by Autumn by 2015.

The modernisation of succession law so that all children are treated equally when it comes to inheriting land

This reform has been resisted by the landed class throughout the whole of the 20th century. Read Chapter 28 in my book, The Poor Had No Lawyers and today’s blog by Lallands Peat Worrier In 1964, when Scotland finally got rid of primogeniture, Lord Haddington and other railed against reform arguing in the House of Lords that

“By assimilating heritable property, which from time immemorial has passed under the law of primogeniture, with moveable property and dividing it equally among the intestate’s next of kin, you are striking at the very roots of Scottish traditions and undermining the whole fabric of Scottish family life.”

Of course it only undermined the traditions of the lives of the aristocracy – particularly by discriminating against women. That Scotland should only now be catching up with the reforms that swept Europe in the aftermath of the French Revolution over 200 years ago says much about why we need such reform!

A Harbours Bill to provide a revised legislative framework from one of Scotland’s oldest forms of social enterprise – Trust Ports

Increasing the Scottish Land Fund to £10 million from 2016-20 to meet demand

Implementation of the recommendations of the Agricultural Holdings Review Group which is due to publish it’s final report in January 2015

A full consultation will be published next week and it is expected to propose additional reforms that require further work before they can be framed as legislation.

This is a very substantial package of measures. A lot of work lies ahead to bring them all to fruition and they will be opposed every bit of the way by powerful vested interests.

Much more information will be published next week when the Scottish Government publishes its full consultation together with an important statement on Land Rights Policy.

Meanwhile everyone who believes that the land of Scotland should be owned and used in the public interest and for the common good should take the time to understand the issues at stake, participate in the consultation and make Scotland a country where land is owned and used for the many and not the few.

**Graham** · 11-30-2014, 04:49 PM

Tories brand Scottish land inheritance plans 'horrifying'

The Scottish Tories have branded plans to give children equal inheritance rights to land as "horrifying".

The measure forms part of the Scottish government legislative programme outlined by Nicola Sturgeon.

Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said the proposals could force the breaking up of estates and small farms.

But Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said they were about extending equal rights and that families would come to their own arrangements.

Currently, the laws of primogeniture apply to estates, so the firstborn son inherits.

Mr Lochhead said the government would be reviewing the law on succession and that a consultation would take place next year.

'Threat to farms'

Speaking to BBC Scotland's Sunday Politics Scotland programme, Mr Johnstone said: "I think it's a horrifying prospect that the Scottish government are going to intervene in this way.

"To a certain extent they are playing to the gallery at this particular stage in Scottish politics."

Mr Johnstone said his family owns 250 acres of agricultural land farmed by his son, who also works full-time.

"The prospect is, in subsequent generations, that relatively small parcels of agricultural land will have to be split up and the chances of small family farms surviving will simply cease to exist."

'Equal rights'

Mr Lochhead dismissed Mr Johnstone's portrayal as "scaremongering" and said famers and land-owners would still be able to make their own arrangements for the future with their families.

He said: "The intent is to ensure that all children are treated equally when it comes to inheritance.

"We do have this outmoded, very outdated, law of succession, whereby children are treated equally when it comes to moveable property, but when it comes to heritable property - such as land - they are not treated equally, so it's about modernising the law."

Mr Lochhead conceded land reforms were intended to move to wider patterns of ownership.

But he added: "No doubt that was not changed previously to protect land-owning interests in Scotland perhaps, but it's really about giving children equal rights."

**Graham** · 12-02-2014, 06:01 PM

Plan to restrict Scottish land ownership
2 December 2014

The Scottish government said that nation's land should benefit everyone

Companies would not be allowed to own land in Scotland unless they are registered within the European Union, under government proposals.

Scottish ministers are also considering extending such a restriction to trusts and partnerships, as part of proposed "radical" land reforms.

The government is planning legislation to ensure Scotland's land benefits "the many, not the few".

However landowners and the Conservatives have hit out at the move.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already announced her intention to bring forward measures allowing ministers to take action against landlords seen as a "barrier to sustainable development".

And she outlined moves to scrap tax breaks for shooting and deerstalking estates, as part of a proposed Land Reform Bill.

As the Scottish government asked for public views on its plans, it said restricting ownership to EU companies, trusts and partnerships would end the current situation where communities and others find it difficult to trace their local landowners.

The restrictions would not apply to individuals from other parts of the world who want to buy Scottish land.

'Transparent system'

Environment Minister Aileen McLeod, said: "The Scottish government's vision is for a strong relationship between the people of Scotland and the land of Scotland, where ownership and use of the land delivers greater public benefits through a democratically accountable and transparent system of land rights that promotes fairness and social justice, environmental sustainability and economic prosperity.

"I am keen to see a fairer and more equitable, distribution of land in Scotland where communities and individuals can own and use land to realise their potential. Scotland's land must be an asset that benefits the many, not the few."

Labour has backed the government's land reform proposals, but the Conservatives have branded them, "a Big Brother-style land grab."

And Scottish Land and Estates, which speaks for private landowners, has said sporting estates were "too readily singled out in a negative light," despite making a key contribution to the economy.