Scotland’s experience of land reform is often described as a journey, if that is the case then our journey is stalling and all but ground to a halt.
Scottish land prices are soaring, driven by speculative investor interest in commercial forestry, carbon credits and land banking. In areas of the south of Scotland land prices have increased by over 450% in just four years. Scotland’s lack of regulation over the land market fuels investor speculation – the public interest in the potential use of the land doesn’t figure.
Communities cannot afford inflated land values, and the current Land Fund cannot cope with a land market that can see small estates selling for multiple millions. Welcome increases planned for the Land Fund annually don’t begin to keep pace with market forces. Bold, robust legislation and regulation can ask important public interest questions to impact the speculative buying up of Scotland.
The Scottish Government has said it wants to diversify Scotland’s land ownership, to combat the private land monopolies, stop wealth extraction and build community wealth, and deliver a just transition to a low carbon future for the coming generations. Few would want to see these ambitions thwarted by legislation lacking the necessary imagination and ambition for real change.