Why war still rages over land ownership in Scotland

The question “owns Scotland?” evokes strong emotions.

It is not part of the land. It deals with the people, we – and where the power lies.

Scotland is unique in that it has one of the most uniform patterns of land ownership anywhere in the Western world.

Land reformers can count as 421 individuals, corporations, asset management groups and foreign trusts. own more than 40% of all land in the country.

“It was shocking,” said Dr Josh Hoble, Community Land Scotland’s director of policy and advocacy.

“We are an international anomaly.”

Lawmakers have been entrenched on this issue for a long time but the momentum for change has picked up since devolution in 1999.

The land reform (Scotland) bill is the Scottish government’s latest wide-ranging and controversial attempt to tackle the issue.

It aims to make it easy for the community to buy-out, to give farmers more information about the management of their land, and to give ministers the exit of some large estates at the point of sale.

SNP ministers say the Act gives a voice to the disadvantaged, giving communities a greater say in their future.

Opponents called it an unprecedented and unprecedented attack on private property rights. There is even talk of “Class War”.

Sarah-Jane Laing of Scottish Land and Estates, which represents many large landowners, said the provisions within the act were “ideologically driven”.

He admitted that the Scottish government “wants to find fragments and destroy the estates as an end in itself” – a goal defined by people, workplaces and nature”.

The debate has its roots in the profit clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries when landowners drove away sheep and cattle.

They know all about Knoydart in the West Highlands, a rugged peninsula accessible only by boat or a two-day hike.

In the 1850s, hundreds of highlanders were violently evicted from Knoydart. Many were forced to immigrate to Canada.

This is one of the events that brought a public inquiry into conditions in the Highlands and, in 1886, the first major land reform in Scotland.

The glowes holding works were created by the liberal government of William Gladstone and gave security of tenure to small farmers known as groughs.

These days Knoydart is under community ownership. In 1999 locals bought lots of land where they live and work And now they say the place will improve.

The Peninsula is home to Britain’s most remote pub, the old Invertie haunt, run by Stephanie Harris.

He told us that Knoydart has gone from strength to strength over the past 25 years.

“There’s a lot of people living here, there’s a lot of kids here now, there’s a lot of private businesses and community businesses going,” he explained.

“There are a lot of opportunities and the fact that people still want to come here I think shows that it’s working.”

Davie Newton has helped with many of the renovations, building and refurbishing a pub, shop, village Hall and more also helping to run the knoydart estate which manages the estate.

He said community ownership led to the planting of 600,000 trees, the transformation of a hydro-electric method and the construction of many new houses.

“As the community makes decisions about its own future, it gains confidence by making decisions and fixing their decisions by making decisions and fixing them,” he said.

The new Land Reforce bill aims to make it easier for other communities to follow in Knoydart’s footsteps.

But clauses that would have given ministers powers to force the demolition of some large estates have been rejected by many landowners and their representatives.

Sarah-Jane Laing says it’s not true to say “Big is bad” when it comes to Scottish Estates.

“It is almost impossible to provide some of the Peatland Restoration, the restoration of the river – along the construction houses, which bring changes, except for businesses, unless you have a scale of ownership,” he said.

The largest private landowners in Scotland are Danish Billionaire Anders Povlsen who is known for his interest in “reinventing”.

MS LAING meets us with a more modest but much larger landowner – PreSton Hall Farm in Midothian to demonstrate his point – that big is actually good.

The 650-hectare estate is home to a variety of businesses, from coffee roasters to portrait photography to a pottery studio.

“It’s the variety of things going on here that make it fun to manage and run,” said the owner of the property, Callegrer.

“To be blamed, we don’t make huge amounts of money. We don’t sit here driving fast cars and living the high life.

“We live here, we work here, and we want to be surrounded by fun, exciting, happy people.”

Mr Calalaner has concerns about the latest land reform law which has already made some talk of legal action to challenge some of its provisions.

“Certainty is what we need,” he said.

The new bill was supported by labor and liberal democrats but conservatives voted against, calling it irreducible and destructive.

The Scottish Greens balked, saying it fell far short of what Scotland needed – and accused SPEP of failing to stand up to the elite.

Many land reform campaigns have agreed to call for more radical reform.

Dr Josh Doble says Scotland has a housing crisis, growing poverty, targeting biodiversity and limiting economic opportunities for local people.

“All that comes from the fact that we have a small number of people who control what happens in those places,” he argued.

“If we have a more democratic way in which the land is shared among the people, we will start talking about the issues in a really meaningful way.”

As with many claims in this debate, that is hotly contested.

Hundreds of years after they began, the land reform battles are seen as raging in 21st century Scotland.