[Updated] Speaking today at the Commumity Land Scotland annual conference on the Isle of Skye, First Minister Alex Salmond MSP announced that the Scottish government will extend the Scottish Land Fund by £3 million extra money in the financial year 2015-16.
The fund was launched in 2012 with £6 million – which we felt was inadequate for its ambitions. This was to be given in three tranches:
- £1 million for Year 1 – 2012-13
- £2 million for Year 2 – 2013-14
- £3 million for Year 3 – 2014-15 – and now there is to be another
- £3 million for Year 4 – 2015-16
The original Scottish Land Fund – from Lottery funds – granted a total of just under £14 million in its five year lifespan.
That find closed in 2006 with the Lottery funds then going to other good causes. The Scottish Government then, in 2012, started the current fund with the pot of £6 million to be spread over three years, now topped up to a fourth year with £3 million which will not be accessed until 2015.
Mr Salmond also announced that he was creating a new target, as he had for renewables and for carbon savings, for community land ownership to reach 1,000,000 acres by 2020.
Both of these announcements were understandably – greeted with enthusiasm by delegates.
Common sense would ca’ canny on ambitions to see 1,000,000 acres of land in community ownership by 2020.
Our calculations show a current figure of around 500,000 acres in community ownership – dating from the first initiative in 1908 – and at a total cost of around £ million.
It is hard to see how and where a further 500,000 acres can be managed in seven years. Where would this volume of land come from over such a period – and where would the money to buy it be found?
Response from Community Land Scotland Chair
Following First Minister, Alex Salmond’s speech to the annual conference of Community Land Scotland, its Chair,, David Cameron, said: ‘It was a great pleasure to welcome the First Minister to our conference today and I welcome the announcement that the Scottish Land fund is to be extended initially for a further year. This gives some greater certainty to groups seeking to buy their land, which can be a lengthy process, that there will be money available for them.
‘It was also good to hear the First Minister spell out that land reform is an important issue for his government, that he wants to see one million acres in community ownership by 2020, and that he still wants to be able to consider radical proposals for reform. That is important because it is radical reform that is necessary, underpinned by stronger legislation.
‘We also noted the announcement that in the next phase of the work of the Land Reform Review Group there will be work streams on land taxation issues and the Crown Estate, as well on the community right to buy. We had always seen community land owning as just one part of a wider land reform agenda, and we will continue to work with others interested in land reform to gear up the arguments and provide the clear narrative of why reform is needed, and that it is needed across a range of fronts.’
Full text of First Minister’s address
The Scottish Government’s Press Release on the First Minister’s address this morning is as follows:
‘The First Minister said:
“We cannot underestimate the crucial part land reform will play in contributing to the future success of Scotland for the next generation. Land ownership is currently overly concentrated. If the people who live and work in Scotland are best-placed to make decisions about the country’s future, then it follows that local communities are-best placed to make decisions about their futures.
“In an independent Scotland – when we have control of the Crown Estates, MoD land and many urban spaces – we will be even more effective in getting greater tracts of Scotland’s land rightfully into community ownership.
“We are committed like no other administration to land reform and, as powerful symbol of that commitment, I am delighted to announce today that we will set a target of a million acres of land in Scotland to be under local control by 2020. This is a deliberately ambitious target that can be achieved through a radical reshaping of the right-to-buy landscape that has the potential to transform the fortunes of communities across the country.”
The First Minister added that much of this work is already well underway, with the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Review Group investigating how this crucial issue can be improved upon for the benefit of the people of Scotland. He went on to confirm today that the Scottish Government will consult later this year on a draft Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill.
He said:
“This draft bill will include provisions for an improved community right to buy. The Land Reform Review Group’s work will have a vital role to play as we draft, consult on, and then prepare to introduce legislation.
“Overall, therefore, the land reform process has the opportunity to lead to radical legislation which will achieve a lasting impact. The outcome of the process must be a stronger economy and a fairer society.
“Over the next year, we have the opportunity to shape a stronger and better relationship between our land and people. Community Land Scotland will be an important voice in that land reform process, together with many other individuals and organisations.
“We now have an opportunity to ensure that more local areas are able to take their future into their own hands. If we do this, we will achieve our own shared aspirations; new jobs and new amenities in areas long denied them; and the regeneration and repopulation of communities across Scotland.”