LAND-REFORM campaigners staged a protest on the site of a failed waterfront development in Edinburgh yesterday to highlight how “vast swathes” of land in Scotland are registered in “secretive tax havens”.

The activists from the #OurLand campaign want the Scottish Government to amend their Land Reform Bill to reinstate the requirement that all landowning entities are registered in a member state of the EU.

This proposal received widespread support in the public consultation but is not in the Bill.

Protesters gathered at the failed Waterfront development in Leith, where the owner of the land is unknown.

The land was bought for over £3 million in 2008 and, following the financial crash, was sold to Sapphire Land Ltd, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, for £327,916 in 2012. As the British Virgin Islands is designated a “secrecy jurisdiction” no information is available about who controls the company.

Because of the 100 per cent exemption on non-domestic rates on derelict land companies can sit on land without having to pay tax. The campaigners claim that offshore companies are often used to launder money and evade tax.

Jen Stout, a campaigner with the Scottish Land Action Movement (Slam), said: “We have to ask how it can to be possible that vast swathes of our land in Scotland are registered in secretive tax havens. Land is a fundamental resource, not some speculative asset for the super-rich to collect.”

Stout continued: “A simple mechanism to tackle this was proposed by the Land Reform Review Group. It is extremely disappointing to see it dropped from the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Bill. Seeing as 82 per cent of respondents to the consultation supported this measure, and that opposition came from the wealthy landowning lobby, we see this as a crucial test of the Scottish Government’s willingness to stand up to vested interests and implement the changes the majority want to see.”

Around 60 activists turned out for the protest which was addressed by campaigners Andy Wightman, Lesley Riddoch and Maggie Mellon from Women For Independence.

The Our Land Campaign was created by Common Weal, Women for Independence, the Scottish Land Action Movement and Wightman and Riddoch, after the Scottish Government published the Land Reform Bill.

Land-reform campaigner Wightman demanded that MSPs act to axe the 100 per cent tax exemption for derelict land and reinstate the requirement for corporate owners of Scottish land to be EU registered. The protest site at the tip of the Western Harbour has been derelict for years and was highlighted by The National on August 12, when the #OurLand campaign was launched.

“In December, the Scottish Government proposed to bar companies like Sapphire from owning land in Scotland in the Land Reform Bill – but the proposal has since been dropped, “ said Wightman. “We are asking MSPs to make sure it is reinstated and to axe the 100 per cent exemption from non-domestic rates offered to owners of derelict land like this. This U-turn on the offshore tax haven ban shows why public pressure is needed as the Land Reform Bill progresses through Holyrood over the next year.” Wightman pointed out that most of Britain’s ports – once regarded as vital parts of the public realm – were sold to the highest bidders in 1991 by Thatcher. This prompted the sale and resale of coastal land allowing some investors to make millions from land speculation and vital land assets to be lost for affordable housing, recreation or other development.

Riddoch said: “Scots need to expect more and demand more than the tiny share of Scottish land that has traditionally been affordable and available – in cities and the countryside. Ending the nonsensical tax exemption on vacant land would be a good start and a vital addition to the Land Reform Bill.

“We are calling on MSPs to be brave and beef up a very modest bill that looks set to do little in the short term to tackle stagnant areas of urban and rural Scotland. The motto for landbanking developers should be ‘use land or lose it’.

Yesterday’s protest follows a meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment committee where the Scottish Government was asked to justify why they had dropped plans to require all landowners in Scotland to be registered within the European Union.

Earlier this week Commonspace revealed the Government had done so after pressure from its Legal Directorate. Government officials before the Committee were also unable confirm if 750,000 acres – an area larger than Ayrshire – is owned in offshore tax havens, as is claimed by campaigners.

Wightman, a long-time researcher on land ownership, said: “The committee hearing was very disappointing in relation to the question of land and property in Scotland owned by companies in offshore tax havens.

“Poor questioning and a long rambling non-answer from Scottish Government officials did nothing to inspire confidence that this matter is going to be subject to the scrutiny it badly needs.”

He continued: “This is a figure I published in 2010 and is verifiable from data held by the Registers of Scotland. We are still none the wiser as to why Scotland cannot and will not contribute to UK and European efforts to eliminate the tax evasion, avoidance and secrecy associated with offshore tax havens.

“It appears from a statement earlier in the week that because the EU is not doing enough we will do nothing.”

More than a thousand people have signed the online petition backing OurLand’s five demands at http://bit.ly/1NSV1M8. The group plans to hold fringe events at the coming SNP and Green conferences.