Land use strategy 2016-2021: second annual progress report

Wider delivery of Land Use Strategy Objectives

The second Land Use Strategy, Getting the best from our land – A Land Use Strategy for Scotland 2016 - 2021, set out nine policies and five proposals aimed at helping Scotland deliver on its three overarching objectives which were determined in consultation with stakeholders during the development of Scotland's first Land Use Strategy:

• Land based businesses working with nature to contribute more to Scotland's prosperity.
• Responsible stewardship of Scotland's natural resources delivering more benefits to Scotland's people
• Urban and rural communities are better connected to the land with more people enjoying the land and positively influencing land use.

These objectives recognise that Scotland's natural capital is one of our greatest assets and needs to be managed in an inclusive and sustainable way to maximise the provision of a wide range of economic, environmental and social benefits for current and future generations. Our land provides places for us to live, work, and enjoy greenspace and the natural environment and ecosystems services we need as the basis for a wide range of business activities. We know we need to make major changes to the way we use our land and it is essential that communities across all of Scotland are engaged and able to contribute to delivering these changes.

Objective 1: Land-based businesses working with nature to contribute more to Scotland's prosperity

The Agricultural Transformation Programme was established with £40 million of initial funding and is improving the environmental sustainability of the sector by building sustainability through business practices that encourage productivity, innovation and inclusion. To date it has delivered:

• a pilot Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) to provide grant funding for farmers and crofters to purchase specific items of agricultural equipment aimed at reducing farm greenhouse gas emissions;
• additional funding for the Forestry Grant Scheme, specifically for farmers and crofters to purchase small scale wood processing equipment and establish farm woodland planting.

As part of the Scottish Government's Low Carbon Fund, Scottish Forestry has been allocated an additional £100 million to help increase woodland creation from the current level of 12,000 hectares in 2020/21 up to 18,000 hectares in 2024/25. Forestry and Land Scotland will receive an additional £30 million to expand Scotland's national forests and land and deliver new woodland creation. In addition £20 million has been made available for the re-development of the Newton tree nursery, increasing production of saplings to support increased woodland creation in Scotland.

The Small Woodlands Loan Scheme, launched in March 2021, aims to remove any cash flow barriers that crofters, farmers or small woodland owners might experience when considering tree planting. The new loan scheme, administered by Scottish Forestry, works alongside the existing main Forestry Grant Scheme and is aimed at woodland creation projects up to 20 hectares in size.

A new farmer-led initiative, facilitated by Scottish Government and Scottish Forestry, called Integrating Trees on Your Land was launched in February 2021. The aim of the initiative is to help farmers, crofters and land managers become more aware of the mulitple benefits that woodland creation can have for their business. It encourages more trees to be planted in the right places and for the right reasons and gives practical guidance on how this can be achieved. The network hosts events for land managers across Scotland and brings them together with experts to share practical knowledge and advice about the processes, objectives, challenges and outcomes of planting trees.

The Agricultural Holdings (Relinquishment and Assignation) (Scotland) Regulations 2020, under of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016, came into force in February 2021. The new regulations provide a process whereby Scottish tenant farmers with secure 1991 Act tenancies can sell their tenancy to the landlord or assign their tenancy to a new entrant or to a person progressing in farming, at market value.

In November 2020, the Scottish Government published its response to the recommendations from the Grouse Moor Management Group, with reference to relevant recommendations of the Independent Deer Working Group and the Climate Change Committee report (for example in areas such as muirburn).

The Scottish Government responded to the Deer Working Group report in March 2021. The Deer Working Group Report set out a wide range of ambitious recommendations for deer management systems across Scotland. Developing and implementing new systems is complex and there are aspects that will require further careful consideration and consultation. Some of the recommendations involve changes to practices and work on the ground, and the intention is to seek their implementation as soon as is practicable. Others will require legislative updates and analysis on interdependencies, which will look to be brought forward during the course of the next Parliament

Objective 2: Responsible stewardship of Scotland's natural resources delivering more benefits to Scotland's people

The Scottish biodiversity strategy post-2020: statement of intent set the direction for a new biodiversity strategy which will respond to the increased urgency for action to tackle the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. Priorities include extending the area of Scotland protected for nature to at least 30% by 2030 and publish a new, high-level, policy focussed strategy within a year of the Convention of Biological Diversity COP15 meeting.

The Establishment of The Environment Strategy for Scotland: visions and outcomes created an overarching framework for environmental strategies and plans with a vision of "One Earth. One home. One shared future".

The Scottish Government has committed significant funding to peatland restoration. In 2020, £20 million of funding was announced as the first step of a commitment to a multiyear investment of £250 million over 10 years, to restore 20,000 hectares of Scottish peatland annually, towards a total of 250,000 hectares by 2030. It is estimated that this level of annual investment could support the creation of around 200 jobs over 3-5 years, mostly in rural and remote areas.

The National Development Plan for Crofting highlighted the core elements necessary to ensure that crofting remains at the heart of our remote rural and island communities, as well as delivering policy priorities for climate change mitigation and biodiversity.

The water resilient places policy framework presented a vision for the future and described the components needed to form a coherent framework to support the delivery of water resilient places. The Scottish Government is making an additional £12 million investment in coastal change adaptation to help adapt to the threat of sea level rise and protect our natural coastal defences from erosion.

Work on the establishment of a Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet is ongoing. Nitrogen is a basic building block of life and the effective and efficient use of nitrogen is an important consideration for many sectors of the economy, the environment and public health. Following an initial phase of engagement with stakeholder organisations, the Scottish Government consulted publicly over winter 2020/21 on a set of proposals for the Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet (SNBS). The consultation analysis report and an initial response was published in March 2021. The Scottish Government is now working towards laying regulations in the Scottish Parliament to formally establish the SNBS in advance of the statutory deadline of March 2022.

Crown Estate Scotland launched its first round of ScotWind leasing in 2020. Through management of seabed rights in Scottish waters for new commercial scale offshore wind project development, low carbon energy generation will be encouraged which will help Scotland to achieve its net zero emissions target by 2045. Although beyond the scope of this report this application round closed in July 2021 with 74 applications from developers looking for the rights to build projects across the 15 areas of seabed available.

Objective 3: Urban and rural communities better connected to the land, with more people enjoying the land and positively influencing land use

The publication of the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan 2020-2025 set out the need for investment in education, training and work based learning towards green jobs. This will support people to access the job opportunities that will be created as we move to a net zero economy, for example in renewable energy, retrofitting buildings, enhancing our environment and the promotion and embedding of the circular economy.

The Fourth National Planning Framework: position statement set out how development will secure positive effects for biodiversity. The position statement looks to align National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) with the visions and outcomes of Scotland's Environment Strategy, the principles set out within the Land Use Strategy and objectives for the natural environment set out in the Climate Change Plan update and Adaptation Strategy.

In March 2021 Scotland's Climate Assembly's Interim Report was laid in the Scottish Parliament. Over 100 members of Scotland's Climate Assembly took on the task of learning about, discussing and making recommendations on how best to tackle climate change and the climate emergency in an effective and fair way.

This included balancing the needs of the environment, landowners and communities across Scotland to optimise sustainable use of our land to: achieve emissions reductions; empower communities to develop localised solutions to tackling climate change; and realise the principle of 20-minute communities/neighbourhoods. The full report on the process and the specific actions and outcomes of Assembly members' recommendations was presented to Parliament in June 2021, and falls beyond the scope of this report.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 were unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament in February 2021. The Regulations' purpose was to establish a new register, the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land. The new register will improve transparency on land ownership by making information publicly available about those who ultimately make decisions about the management or use of land, even if they are not registered as the land owner. The Register will be held and administered by Registers of Scotland, and will be free to search and operational on 1 April 2022.

The independent collaborative review of the progress and scope of the 2013 Town Centre Action Plan looked to build on the 'town centre first' approach to develop a refreshed view for our towns. The Scottish Government has also committed to developing a network of Climate Action Towns to help small towns with little historical involvement in climate action to: reduce what they use; recycle more; and become carbon neutral. The network will also take forward ambitions for 20-minute neighbourhoods. These aim to ensure that people can meet most of their essential needs within a 20-minute walk, including shopping, access to local services and transport, green space and an environment that encourages active travel, health and wellbeing.

Continued funding for the Scottish Land Fund will provide £10 million per year to help support urban and rural communities to become more sustainable and take decisions about their environment through the ownership and management of land and land assets.

Crown Estates Scotland Community Capacity Grants have continued to help sustainable communities by providing early stage financial support for community enterprise projects that contribute to local regeneration and sustainable development, and help create good places to live, work and visit. Environment Grants have also provided funding to Crown Estate Scotland tenants for projects on the Scottish Crown Estate that deliver demonstrable environmental benefits.