‘FEWER than 500 individuals are very much in the driving seat when it comes to deciding what happens across most of our land,” writes Carolyn Leckie (Why a lot more of Scotland can and should be looking like this..., August 22). That is a shocker!

I read it the day after listening to Lesley Riddoch once again asking the question, who is doing anything about serious land reform in Scotland other than selling it off acre by acre? Of course, Lesley is right. People like Andy Wightman and the Greens have had intelligent, serious proposals to change succession legislation knocked down in the Scottish Parliament.

These proposals, if accepted, would mean that instead of the eldest child inheriting the land in one big swathe passed down for generations, it would be shared equally amongst all the children in smaller parcels, easier for popular buyouts.

READ MORE: Carolyn Leckie: The rural land belongs, morally if not legally, to us all

I was surprised to learn that Anders Holch Povlsen, a Dane, now owns the biggest chunk of Scotland (221,000 acres of the Highlands), eclipsing the Duke of Buccleuch’s long-standing record of 217,000 acres. One Danish individual deciding what is to be done with our land, even though he says he has good intentions of rewilding, is simply not democratic. Then there is the ruler of Dubai with his 63,000 acres, trying to build his 64-bedroomed retreat! They will be declaring independence next!

Imagine, just imagine, having a government that would tackle this issue with laws and policies to place Scottish land in the hands of Scottish people. But what is being done? Well, the Duke of Buccleuch is being subsidised by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Land Fund, supporting 16 trusts and companies to the tune of £3.7 million towards helping the community buy the land. And that is a good thing, you say, but does the community really have to pay market value for the land?

What about a fairer system of valuation? What about a radical concept where the government confiscates Scottish land and gives it to these communities instead of going to the lottery? The biggest question though is, who is championing this huge issue of land reform instead of incremental developments where any old billionaire can buy chunks of Scotland for their own playground?

What about these emerging parties in Scotland? Could land reform be a cause worth pursuing? We are all focused on winning a Yes vote but it need not be a single-issue campaign. There are loads of people treating Covid as a hiatus, just waiting to get on with business as normal. That is so short-sighted.

Covid forced us to review our priorities. Witness the mass exodus from the cities to the remote Highlands and Islands as if driven by some primal need to be amongst nature and wide-open spaces. The lockdown provided the opportunity for us to reflect on whether we enjoyed the pre-Covid world and a lot of us decided no, we must not fall back to the old treadmill towards consumerist oblivion.

We are learning to live long-term with Covid, and that has brought massive change almost overnight with huge changes in how we connect with each other. More people are working from home so it doesn’t matter if you live in the remote Highlands or Carolyn Leckie’s vision of an urban conurbation.

The land beneath our feet is changing (hands), and now is as good a time as any to pull ourselves out of the feudal strongholds into a modern Scotland, compatible with many European neighbours where the people have a healthier relation with their environment, land ownership and democracy. Now that our second referendum is fast becoming recognised for what it is, a matter of democracy, we must also look at the foundations we are to build upon and whether we have any say on how these foundations will sustain us into the future.

Patricia Logan
via email