Green land investment in rural Scotland: social and economic impacts

Footnotes

1. Since fieldwork was undertaken for this research, the Scottish Land Commission has published guidance on ‘Delivering Community Benefits from Land’, which details good practice approaches to community engagement and involving communities in decisions relating to land (Scottish Land Commission, 2023).

2. Noting again that these recommendations align closely with the guidance recently published by the Scottish Land Commission on ‘Delivering Community Benefits from Land’ (Scottish Land Commission, 2023).

3. This report was published separately and is available on the Scottish Government’s website: Defining Rewilding for Scotland's Public Sector (www.gov.scot)

4. Namely the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2005, and the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016.

5. Although the latest Rural Land Market Insights report notes that whilst natural capital drivers remained a prominent Scottish land market trend, it was thought that changes to Woodland Carbon Code rules (i.e. additionality tests) had resulted in fewer institutional buyers of land for forestry in particular in 2022 (Merrell et al., 2023).

6. For figures on this in a Scottish context, see Section 2.4 of this report: Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill: supporting evidence and analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

7. In turn, contributing to Scottish Government’s aim to “establish a values-led, high-integrity market for responsible private investment in natural capital” within the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (Scottish Government, 2022d:28).

8. See: Scotland's Land Reform Futures | The James Hutton Institute

9. A ‘critical’ case study is defined by Flyvbjerg as “having strategic importance in relation to the general problem” (2006: 229).

10. Data used in analysis, supporting the descriptions in the table above: a) Who Owns Scotland (May 2023). Andy Wightman; b) National Forest Inventory Woodland Scotland 2020. Forestry Commission. Contains, or is based on, information supplied by the Forestry Commission. © Crown copyright and database right 2021 Ordnance Survey [100021242]; c) National Forest Inventory Scotland 2011. Forestry Commission. © Crown copyright and database right 2021 Ordnance Survey [100021242]; d) Transport network analysis: datasets for transport network and limitations of analysis described in Hopkins and Piras (2020); e) 2023-1 Scottish Postcode Directory Files: Postcode Index. National Records of Scotland. Contains NRS data © Crown copyright and database right [2023]; f) Population of data zones by council area: mid-2001 to mid-2021. National Records of Scotland. © Crown Copyright 2022. Data supplied by National Records of Scotland; g) Estimated population by sex, single year of age, 2011 Data Zone area, and council area. National Records of Scotland. @ Crown Copyright. Data supplied by National Records of Scotland; h) Experimental gross value added (GVA) estimates for lower super output areas, data zones and super output areas and geography reference tables. Office for National Statistics. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; i) Census 2011 Table QS605SC. National Records of Scotland. (© Crown copyright. Data supplied by National Records of Scotland). Included in analysis, but not shown: j) Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD): July 2023. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0

11. Please note that gender and age data was not requested during the interviews or workshops, and therefore this information is based on researcher observation or as noted in interview transcripts.

12. See: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule

13. A repository of information on green finance is available at: GFI Hive (greenfinanceinstitute.com)

14. More information about the ‘Revere’ initiative is available at: https://revere.eco/

15. The Scottish Land Commission’s latest Rural Land Market Insights report states that: “the prices achieved in the market [in 2022] meant that there were fewer opportunities for communities, young farmers or less affluent individuals that could further diversify the ownership of Scottish land” (Merrell et al., 2023: 32).

16. Social license may be defined as "the perceptions of local stakeholders that a project, a company, or an industry that operates in a given area or region is socially acceptable or legitimate" (Raufflet et al., 2013, p. 2223)

17. Where land grabbing is understood to be the process of large-scale, transnational commercial land transactions (Borras Jr, et al., 2015).

18. It is noted that the latest Rural Land Market Insights Report explains that whilst increasing land prices continued at the beginning of 2022, farmland prices plateaued near the end of 2022 (Merrell et al., 2023). Nonetheless, the Scottish Land Commission also report a trend of increasing farmland values with growth each year between 2020 – 2022 (Scottish Land Commission, 2023b).

19. It is noted that other studies show enhanced landscape qualities and amenities associated with land use change for renewable energy (see, for example: Renewable Energy and Landscape Quality, European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)).

20. This perception is verified by research evidence regarding agricultural land prices where “average per acre values remain lower in Scotland relative to other UK regions” (McMorran et al., 2022b: 21).

21. It is noted that younger participants in at least three case studies (i.e. those aged in their twenties and thirties) frequently mentioned a lack of affordability and availability of housing for young families or people starting on the wage ladder as a key challenge in their local areas.

22. Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003

23. It is recognised that this function is served by the Scottish Land Commission.

24. Scotland’s historic system of land tenure whereby land was held by vassals on perpetual tenure from their superior and where they were restricted to some degree in what they could do with their land by feudal burdens enforceable by superiors. The system was abolished in 2004 by the Abolition of Feudal tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000.

25. The practice of muirburn is burning old vegetation which reduces the fuel load and allows new growth which feeds insects, young birds, and mammals (Scottish Government, 2023).

26. It may be necessary for policy makers to consider making compliance with the Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital (Scottish Government, 2022c) mandatory under certain conditions.

27. Noting again that these recommendations align closely with the guidance recently published by the Scottish Land Commission on ‘Delivering Community Benefits from Land’ (Scottish Land Commission, 2023).

28. Key guidance has recently been published by the Scottish Land Commission in their report ‘Delivering Community Benefits from Land’ (Scottish Land Commission, 2023); available online: https://www.landcommission.gov.scot/downloads/65572c79e77be_Guidance%20on%20Community%20Benefits%E2%80%9316.11.23.pdf . Other useful sources of advice regarding community engagement include ‘Working Together for Sustainable Estate Communities’ (Glass et al., 2012); available online: https://issuu.com/cms_uhi/docs/working_together_for_sustainable_estate_communitie and the Scottish Land Commission’s Community Engagement Protocol (Scottish Land Commission, 2021) available online: https://www.landcommission.gov.scot/downloads/628e17641fd5d_Comm%20Engagement%20Protocol%202021.pdf (see also McKee, 2015; McIntosh, 2023).