Attitudes to land reform: research

Footnotes

1. Where developers or investors purchase land and then sit on it, without developing it, in the hope of making a greater profit in the future when the value of the land has increased.

2. https://www.gov.scot/policies/land-reform/

3. Since the end of 2018 there have been a further 11 registrations on the RCIL and a further three registrations on the Register of Applications by Community Bodies to Buy Land, which is the mechanism for applications by community bodies to buy abandoned, neglected or detrimental land and to buy land to further sustainable development.

4. See: https://www.gov.scot/publications/community-empowerment-scotland-act-summary/

5. The Land Reform Review Group's report published in 2014: The land of Scotland and the common good: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

6. A Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement was published by Scottish Government in September 2017: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-land-rights-responsibilities-statement/

7. SIMD stands for Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation – it is a tool for identifying the places where people are experiencing most disadvantage across different aspects of their lives https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-index-multiple-deprivation-2020/

8. Where developers or investors purchase land and then sit on it, without developing it, in the hope of making a greater profit in the future when the value of the land has increased.

9. Where developers or investors purchase land and then retain it, without developing it, in the hope of making a greater profit in the future when the value of the land has increased.

10. It should be noted that some vacant and derelict land is potentially very costly to remediate, and investigative work is initially needed to determine the appropriate options.

11. Participants frequently referred to the importance of shutting gates. While gates should be left as they are found (that is, gates found open should generally not be shut), there was no reason to think that participants meant other than shutting gates which they had opened behind them (although we did not explore this specific point).

12. Acronym for "Not in my back yard" and often used to characterise people's objections to developments in their local area that they would be happy to see elsewhere

13. In total, 174 community bodies had completed an application to register an interest by 2014. 116 of these subsequently achieved a successful registration, 39 of which expired or were deleted. The 22 successful purchases by 2014 also included some acquisitions that were completed outwith the 2003 Act's legislative measures.

14. The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee also conducted an Inquiry into land reform in Scotland in 2014-15. See: The Land Reform Review Group's Call for Evidence: Analysis of Responses - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

15. See: https://www.gov.scot/publications/community-empowerment-scotland-act-summary/

16. A Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement was published by Scottish Government in September 2017: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-land-rights-responsibilities-statement/

17. The Scottish Land Commission was subsequently established in 2017: https://landcommission.gov.scot/

18. As part of this, Registers of Scotland launched ScotLIS (Scotland's Land Information Service) in 2017, a new map-based, online land information service on land ownership, with Registers of Scotland agreed to completing the Land Register by 2024.

19. See Scotland's Land Use Strategy 2016-2021: https://www2.gov.scot/landusestrategy

20. For example, in Scotland's Land Use Strategy and the recent Programme for Government commitment to develop Regional Land Use Plan

21. See 'Community Empowerment and Sustainable Landscapes', Calum Macleod, November 5 2019.

22. See: https://www.gov.scot/policies/land-reform/

23. The Land Reform Review Group (2014) noted that "a relatively small number of landowners with large properties own the majority of Scotland's land area" (p.159).

24. See 'Community Engagement' on the Scottish Land Commission website for all community engagement resources.

25. Despite being widely shared online, the Young Scot survey received 197 responses, which the research team felt was low and perhaps reflects lower levels of interest/engagement with this topic in general among young people aged 11-25.

26. Part 8 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 instructed local authorities to establish Common Good registers and publish details about any proposed disposal of Common Good land and assets.

27. The Land Reform Review Group (2014) noted the importance of Common Good land and assets such as some town halls, parks and woodland in Scotland and how these have been gradually degraded/lost.