Land Reform (Scotland) Bill: business and regulatory impact assessment

Consultation

3.1 Within Government

3.1.1 Consultation, engagement, and discussion within the following Divisions, Directorates and organisations have helped to shape the policy proposals.

• Agriculture Policy Division
• Rural Payments and Inspections Division
• Information Systems Division
• Animal Health and Welfare Division
• Property and advice division
• Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services
• Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)
• Natural Resources Divisions
• NatureScot
• Scottish Forestry
• SEPA
• Historic Environment Scotland

3.2 Public Consultation

Land Management Tenancy

3.2.1 The Land Management Tenancy was consulted on as part of the Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation consultation. The consultation received 537 responses, of which 162 were from groups or organisations and 375 from individual members of the public. Six in-person consultation events were also held across Scotland with a further event online. A number of discussions were held with environmental NGOs and tenant farming stakeholders to develop this proposal.

Small Landholdings Consultation

3.2.2 The small landholdings consultation was conducted in 3 stages: (1) a legislative review which originated from the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016; (2) a written Small Landholdings Modernisation consultation; and (3) a Strategic Environmental Assessment consultation.

3.2.3 The legislative review was published in 2017 after a comprehensive consultation. The consultation included contacting all known small landholders and their landlords. The Scottish Government attended various events to meet relevant stakeholders. Some of these were Scottish Government-led events which provided individual small landholders and landlords the opportunity to meet officials at a small number of separate events in the areas of Scotland with the highest density of small landholdings (including the Isle of Arran). Government officials also attended a number of industry events including the Smallholder & Growers Festival in Lanark, the Rural Parliament in Brechin, and AgriScot in Edinburgh. The legislative review report can be found here: Small landholdings in Scotland: legislation review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

3.2.4 After the launch of the Small Landholding Modernisation consultation, officials endeavoured to make personal contact with all small landholders and ensure that landlords had fair representation. Where possible the consultation was sent to small landholders and landlords directly. Officials also held a workshop on the Isle of Arran and organised individual meetings with landlords. The consultation analysis can be found here: Small landholdings modernisation: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

3.2.5 The Strategic Environmental Assessment consultation ran from 12 October 2023 to 11 December 2023. A total of 12 responses were received. The environmental report accompanying the consultation concluded that the proposals have the potential to lead to major positive effects for biodiversity and geodiversity, climate change, and soil and water, along with positive cumulative effects. The effects on the historic environment are uncertain.

Agricultural Holdings

3.2.6 The agricultural holdings proposals were consulted upon in three stages: (1) a consultation as part of the “Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture: Proposals for a New Agricultural Bill” consultation; (2) the co-development of the detail with the Tenant Farming Advisory Forum[34]; and (3) a Strategical Environmental Assessment consultation.

3.2.7 The Agriculture Bill consultation included a number of agricultural holding responses and ran from 29 August 2022 to 5 December 2022. The consultation received 392 responses consisting of 225 from individuals and 167 from organisations. A series of in person consultation events were carried out during the consultation period including Inverness, Skye, Aberdeenshire, Oban, Scottish Borders, Stirling, Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, and Orkney. In addition, an online workshop held on 15 November 2022 on modernising agricultural tenancies. was open to everyone including island communities. The Agriculture Bill consultation analysis was published in June 2023 and can be found here: Agriculture Bill: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

3.2.8 The proposals for tenant farming were co-developed in partnership with TFAF. The minutes and papers of these meetings can be found at the Tenant Farming Advisory Forum website - Tenant Farming - Our work - Scottish Land Commission.

3.2.9 The Strategic Environmental Assessment consultation ran from 12 October 2023 to 11 December 2023. A total of 12 responses were received. The environmental report which accompanied the consultation concluded that the proposals have the potential to lead to major positive effects for biodiversity and geodiversity, climate change, and soil and water, along with positive cumulative effects. The effects on the historic environment are uncertain.