Review of the Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement: analysis of consultation responses

Introduction

Background to the consultation

This report presents the analysis of responses to the Scottish Government's consultation on the review of the Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement.

The Scottish Government published the first Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement (the Statement) in September 2017. Scottish Ministers are required to review the Statement every five years. The focus of this consultation was on seeking views to ensure that the Statement remains relevant to current and future Scottish land issues.

The consultation was launched on 5 November 2021 and closed on 28 January 2022. The consultation paper can be read on the Scottish Government website.

The consultation asked 20 questions. There were three closed questions (one of which had six parts) and 17 open questions inviting comment.

Profile of main consultation respondents

In total 55 responses were received. Where consent has been given to publish the response, it can be found on the Scottish Government's consultation platform, CitizenSpace.

Respondents were asked to identify whether they were responding as an individual or on behalf of a group or organisation. 26 responses were submitted by organisations and 29 by individual members of the public.

Organisational respondents were allocated to one of four groups by the analysis team and the Scottish Government.

A breakdown of the number of responses received by respondent type is set out in Table 1 below and a full list of organisational respondents can be found in Annex 1.

The Government and non-departmental public bodies (NDPB) respondents included the Scottish Land Commission (SLC). The SLC is a public body, with priority areas of work covering reforming land rights, embedding responsible land ownership and use, and reforming land markets. They have created a range of protocols, tools and guidance to encourage and enable those with an interest in land to recognise and fulfil their rights and responsibilities.

Analysis and reporting

The remainder of this report presents a question-by-question analysis of the comments made to the main consultation.

A small number of respondents did not make their submission on the consultation questionnaire but submitted their comments in a statement-style format. This content was analysed under the most directly relevant consultation question.

As with any public consultation exercise, it should be noted that those responding generally have a particular interest in the subject area and the views they express cannot be seen as representative of wider public opinion.