CAMPAIGNERS will protest outside parliament today, urging MSPs to "be brave" ahead of the stage one debate on the new Land Reform Bill. The protest, organised by the Our Land Campaign, will point out that half of Scotland’s private land is owned by 432 individuals or interests.
This means, according to historian Professor Jim Hunter, Scotland has the “most concentrated, most inequitable, most unreformed and most undemocratic land ownership system in the entire developed world”.
The Our Land Campaign – created by Common Weal, Women for Independence, the Scottish Land Action Movement and campaigners Andy Wightman and Lesley Riddoch – says more action needs to be taken for the Land Reform Bill to be strong and effective.
Riddoch said: “One-third of an acre of land in Scotland can cost £50k – if it ever comes onto the market. MSPs, civil servants and the Scottish Government’s legal team must know the vast majority of Scots want this situation to change. Yet land reform can seem like a specialist subject in which large landowners and lawyers are the only experts. If MSPs feel daunted, we ask them to be brave and deliver meaningful change.”
Pictures of Scots who tagged themselves with the #BeBrave hashtag will be held up outside Holyrood as MSPs make their way in to work. This will, Our Land says, show the public’s strength of feeling around land reform.
Robin McAlpine, director of CommonWeal, said: “We want to reassure MSPs that many people right across Scotland feel strongly about land reform and want change and while they may not have big lobbying budgets, the public will support a brave stand at Holyrood to get land reform started.”
The campaigners want to see MSPs reinstate the requirement for all landowners to be registered in a member state of the EU in the interests of basic transparency.
Campaigners will also urge MSPs to hold firm to existing proposals to reintroduce non-domestic rates to sporting estates and deer forests; provide a mechanism for communities to appeal to Scottish ministers about negligent landowners; require landowners to have meaningful consultation with local communities; demand information and transparency on landholdings; set up a Land Commission; reform inheritance law to equalise land rights among children; and improve conditions for tenant farmers.
There will also be a call to end the 100 per cent exemption from non-domestic rates on derelict land in a bid to end the land-banking that bedevils towns and cities across the country.
The campaigners also want MSPs to acknowledge that the Land Reform Bill does not solve the problem of unaffordable and unavailable land in Scotland. The next parliament, campaigners say, should adopt further measures to tackle land taxation, the plight of tenant farmers, lack of information about land ownership, derelict and vacant land, absentee landlordism and the exorbitant cost of land for housing.
The campaign was backed by Hollywood actor Brian Cox, who said: “We’re so battered down by feudal thinking in Scotland. I’m happy to back Our Land because it’s time for real change.”
A petition backing the campaign can be found at http://bit.ly/bebraveMSPs
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