Assessing the Impact

It is important that we understand in more detail the potential impacts of the proposals aiming to modernise the current small landholding legislation as set out in this consultation paper.

During the consultation period from 22 October 2022 to 14 January 2023, we plan to contact stakeholders and stakeholder organisations to discuss with them the potential positive and negative effects of the proposals contained in this consultation paper.

Please use the following questions to tell us your views on these issues.

P. Are you aware of any potential costs and burdens that you think may arise as a result of the proposals within this consultation paper?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

Q. Are you aware of any examples of potential impacts, either positive or negative, that you consider that any of the proposals in this consultation paper may have on the environment?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

R. Are you aware of any examples of particular current or future impacts, positive or negative, on young people, of any aspect of the proposals in this consultation paper?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

S. Could any improvements be made from a young person’s perspective?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

T. Are you aware of any impacts, positive or negative, of the proposals in this consultation paper on data protection or privacy?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

U. Are you aware of any examples of how the proposals in this consultation paper may impact, either positively or negatively, on those with protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation)?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

V. Are you aware of any examples of how the proposals in this consultation paper might have particular positive or negative impacts on groups or areas experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

W. Please note these could be households with low incomes or few resources; families struggling to make ends meet; people who experienced poverty while growing up; or areas with few resources or opportunities compared with others.

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

X. Are you aware of any examples of how the proposals in this consultation paper might impact, positively or negatively, on island communities in a way that is different from the impact on mainland areas?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

If yes, please give reasons:

How to Respond

We are inviting responses to this consultation paper by 14 January 2023.

We would like to hear your views on these proposals aiming to modernise the current small landholdings legislation.

Please respond to this consultation paper using the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space Scottish Government - Citizen Space (consult.gov.scot). Access and respond to this consultation paper online at https://consult.gov.scot/agriculture-and-rural-economy/small-landholdings-modernisation. You can save and return to your responses while the consultation exercise is still open. Please ensure that all consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 14 January 2023.

If you are unable to respond using Citizen Space, please send your response, including the completed Respondent Information Form to:

By email: SmallLandholdingsConsultation@gov.scot

By post:

We welcome your thoughts on the potential impacts, both positive and potentially negative, of any of the ideas in this consultation paper and nine questions have been included at the end of the consultation paper for this purpose.

The consultation runs until 14 January 2023. A 12 week consultation period will allow you sufficient time to ensure that your views are taken into account, in order for us to bring forth the number of amendments required to modernise the current small landholding legislation.

Handling your response

If you respond using Citizen Space, you will be directed to the About You page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to be published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise. To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy: https:// www.gov.scot/privacy/.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use Citizen Space to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available relevant evidence to help us make decisions on how we modernise the current small landholding legislation. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the contact address above.

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policymaking process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online: http://consult.gov.scot. Each consultation exercise details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.