THE conference organised by the Revive Coalition for Grouse Moor Reform was held recently in Perth. Like the two previous conferences, it showcased the knowledge, expertise and dogged determination of those in the vanguard of attempts to drag Scottish land ownership out of the 19th century.
The forensic critique of the latest Land Reform bill in Andy Wightman’s closing address and the story of the remarkable long-term work of Ron Greer and Derek Pretswell on reforestation at Loch Garry, described in Lesley Riddoch’s new film, were two highlights among many notable presentations.
The centrepiece of the conference was a presentation of the results of The Big Land Question. This Scotland-wide survey of attitudes to land reform showed a large majority of those surveyed to be in support of further significant reform but also revealed the fact that many Scots were ignorant of the key issues and details in the Scottish land reform debate. For the majority of Scots, a close connection to the land has been broken over the years by urbanisation, industrial change, clearance and exclusion from ownership.
This year, despite some excellent presentations, I ended the conference with little optimism that we will be arriving at our destination any time soon. The day of the conference coincided with the passing of Scotland’s third Land Reform Act, but the unanimous view of reformers is that the current act is far too weak and overly complex. Despite the apparent commitment of the Labour and the Green MSPs present at the conference to support more reform, the contributions of the chair of the Scottish Land Reform Commission, Michael Russell, and the SNP representative on the politicians’ panel, Paul McLennan, were timid, tired and lacking in detail The absence of a Tory MSP accurately summed up that party’s opposition to any genuinely significant reform.
We have been told over and over again by our politicians that we are on a land reform journey and that further reform will come, but to be completely honest, the final destination still remains a complete mystery to me. Revive, to its credit, is trying to fill in some of the blanks and has just released a new land reform manifesto. It begins to flesh out what the destination looks like. Bringing together the aspirations of activists and reformers from all parts of Scotland, the report covers a wide range of subjects including community ownership, crofting, reforesting, rewilding, renewable energy development and animal welfare to name a few. Some of the ideas in the manifesto draw inspiration from the land tenure systems of Scandinavian countries but an overarching aim to unite the different groups and galvanise public opinion and politicians across Scotland still seems to evade us. I want to draw attention to some lessons from closer to home – in Ireland.
Ireland’s land reform journey of course has been very different to Scotland’s despite some obvious similarities between the experiences of the Irish and Scottish Gaidhealtachd. Land reform in Ireland was closely connected to the struggle for independence from British rule, and independence was viewed by many as the key that would unlock “land for the people”.
British Government legislation in Ireland, like that in Scotland, initially focused on the limited goals of fair rents and security of tenure but over time sought the transition of all Irish tenant farmers into a class of small landowners.
The voluntary transfer of land from large landowners, initially funded by the British Treasury, was developed after Irish independence into compulsory purchase schemes which were implemented by the Irish Land Commission.
Land was redistributed to tens of thousands of Irish families. Significant redistribution of land was achieved in Ulster too although it was less extensive than in the south.
I am not suggesting that Scottish land reform should copy Ireland. Ireland’s and Scotland’s rural and agricultural sectors were and are very different. Scotland needs to find its own models for reform. And land reform goals will sometimes be discovered later to have been the wrong ones and will require readjustment and renewal in the context of new realities and challenges. But what we can learn from Ireland is the importance of a unifying goal expressed in clear, concrete and practical terms.
In Ireland, this was the redistribution of land to the largest number of people practicable. It was this aim that the majority of the Irish supported and which Irish politicians found impossible to oppose – at least in public. It was so important to the Irish that they put it in their constitution. An Irish Land Commission, which oversaw the practical process of reform, redistributed more than two million acres of land through a series of land reform acts before and after independence.
Andy Wightman’s frustration at the glacial pace of change in Scotland was obvious when he appealed at the conference for the Scottish public to create their own detailed plans of land reform and present these to Scottish politicians. But we also need to vote only for the politicians who are genuinely committed to the cause of land reform and want to lead it. And we don’t need the flowery language of visions and dreams.
We just need politicians to tell us where we are going and when, roughly, they expect us to get there.
Alan Short
Aberdeen
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