The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill – passed in Holyrood on Wednesday (5 November) – has sparked divided reactions across Scotland’s farming and landowning communities.
The legislation aims to reform how large estates and agricultural tenancies are managed, particularly holdings of more than 1,000ha.
It introduces stricter requirements for landowners, including new land management plans, community consultation before sales, and the creation of a Land and Communities Commissioner to oversee engagement and transparency.
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In support of the bill, Christopher Nicholson, chairman of the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association, said: “Scotland, with its unregulated land market and concentrated land ownership, has been affected more than any other European country in recent years by the inflow of green capital into the land market.”
He described the new measures as “a step in the right direction”, adding that the provisions should end “private ‘off market’ sales of large-scale landholdings” and increase transparency for communities and tenants.
Mr Nicholson said the bill would allow occupiers, including farm tenants, the opportunity to buy – “a better outcome than what we have witnessed recently with green speculators purchasing large estates where tenants have been removed”.
Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “Tenant farmers and small landholders are vital to the fabric of our rural communities.
“These reforms will help them to make a decent living on their holding and make improvements on the land they work on.
“It will allow them to work in a way that promotes sustainable and regenerative agricultural production.
“And, possibly most importantly, be protected from being removed from their holding without fair compensation.”
Landowner concerns
However, other industry voices expressed serious concern.
Sarah-Jane Laing, chief executive of Scottish Land & Estates, was sharply critical of the new bill.
“Perhaps uniquely, this legislation has succeeded in uniting landowners, land reform campaigners, lawyers, property agents and accountants – all of whom recognise that, whatever your stance on land reform, this is junk law.”
She said the bill’s provisions were “so badly drafted that it will take years of additional work by government and others before they can be implemented in practice”.
“No one emerges as a winner from this – not government, not landowners, not rural businesses, not communities, and certainly not the taxpayer, who will bear much of the cost of the added bureaucracy,” Ms Laing suggested.
The bill forms part of the Scottish government’s ongoing land reform programme.
It is based on recommendations by the Scottish Land Commission, which seeks to address concentrated land ownership and modernise tenancy law.
A spokesman for NFU Scotland said: “Our position remains clear: land reform must not harm access to land for tenants or the next generation of farmers.
“We support proportionate land use responsibilities, but policy must focus on how land is used, not just who owns it.”