The Scottish government has published "radical" proposals aimed at widening the ownership of land across the country.

It has been estimated that half of the privately-owned land in Scotland is controlled by 432 people.

The Land Reform Bill will end tax relief for shooting estates and force the sale of land if owners are blocking economic development.

However, it has been described as a "land grab" by opponents.

Landowners on sporting estates stopped paying business rates in 1994 after being given an exemption by then prime minister John Major's Conservative government.

The Scottish government had previously said the tax exemption was unfair and must end.

It has proposed using the additional money raised by ending the tax exemption to treble the Scottish Land Fund - which is used to help support community buyouts of land - from Ł3m this year to Ł10m a year from 2016.

But landowners have claimed re-introducing the rates could make some sporting estates unprofitable and force gamekeepers out of work.

Nicola Sturgeon set out the land reform proposals shortly after becoming Scotland's first minister in November of last year.

She said at the time that "Scotland's land must be an asset that benefits the many, not the few".

Other proposals in the bill include:
-- measures to clarify information about land, its ownership and its value, with a Scottish Land Reform Commission being set up to make recommendations on future reforms.
--encouraging better information and greater transparency on the ownership of land, through the land register
--strengthening regulations where land owners are failing to take their deer management responsibilities seriously
--improvements to both systems of common good land and right to roam.

The Scottish government has set a target of doubling the amount of land in community ownership from the current 500,000 acres to one million acres by 2020.

David Johnstone, chairman of Scottish Land and Estates, which speaks for private landowners, had previously said that sporting estates were "too readily singled out in a negative light", when in fact "they were businesses that made a key contribution to rural tourism, local employment and the environment".

And the Scottish Conservatives have also criticised the government's proposed reforms as "a Big Brother-style land grab".

Land Reform Minister Aileen McLeod said: "We cannot underestimate the crucial part land reform will play in contributing to the future success of communities across Scotland.

"Through the Land Reform Bill we want to ensure that future generations have access to land required to promote business and economic growth and to provide access to good quality, affordable food, energy and housing.

"The introduction of the bill is a significant step forward in ensuring our land is used in the public interest and to the benefit of the people of Scotland. It will also end the stop start nature of land reform in Scotland that has limited progress."

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