Land Reform for the Common Good

"The Scottish Government and Parliament now have an opportunity to deliver a Land Reform Act that will begin to do that by tackling the structural blight of concentrated private land ownership that serves the interests of a privileged few, rather than the many. Beyond the immediate priority of the forthcoming Bill, Government and Parliament need to thread progressive land reform measures through other forthcoming legislation in the current Parliamentary session, including Bills on Community Wealth Building; Human Rights; and Agriculture where opportunities exist to do so. These, elements, together with non-legislative measures of the type discussed earlier, all need to coalesce within a distinctive and integrated land reform policy programme that connects Scotland’s people and land in ways that safeguard the wellbeing of both; now and for the generations still to come.

Whether or not such an integrated policy programme emerges depends largely on the will of Parliament to legislate and otherwise press for genuinely radical and progressive land reform. However, the will of Parliament is ultimately the democratic will of the Scottish people. There is consequently also a vital role for civil society to play by putting its collective shoulder to the wheel of achieving land justice for Scotland’s people: by demanding sustained, progressive, and impactful action on land reform by Government and Parliament; and by amplifying public concern about and support for a fair sharing of Scotland’s land wealth for the common good. As such, there is merit in exploring the idea of developing a Scottish Convention for Land Justice, or some such representative mechanism to organise, mobilise and campaign to achieve that shared objective."