As Scottish ministers prepare a land reform bill which could herald some landowners being forced to sell their land, proprietors are being urged to demonstrate the benefits they already deliver for rural Scotland.
Scottish Land & Estates (SL&E), the landowners' representative body, has particular concerns over the proposed new powers for Scottish Ministers or another public body - "to direct private landowners to take action" if they are preventing sustainable development in a local area, if necessary by forcing them to lease or sell their land.
The owners believe this is ideologically driven.
However the Scottish Government last week published the results of the public consultation on its land reform proposals which received over 70 per cent support from respondents, including 87 per cent for he proposal to introduce a land rights and responsibilities policy; and 71 per cent for the proposal to remove the exemption from business rates for sporting estates.
Now the landowners are highlighting arguments in their defence, well ahead of the bill which is due to be published before the summer recess.
Speaking at SL&E's conference in Edinburgh on delivering public benefit from private land, David Johnstone, chairman of the organisation said landowners were already meeting the challenges set-down by government head on, but that more needed to be done to cut through "time worn stereotypes" to demonstrate the benefits to all of private landownership.
He said: "There is very compelling evidence right across Scotland to demonstrate the public benefit that private landowners deliver. It is there for all to see in tourism, energy, housing, conservation and a host of other sectors, many of which provide no commercial return for landowners.
"The challenge we face is to break down the stereotype image that is so convenient for those who are critical of the very existence of estates. They do not wish to acknowledge what is happening on the ground and what can be achieved in the future."
Mr Johnstone said that at a local level, there was a great deal of recognition of the contribution of landowners and their businesses. However, in the national political debate, that local recognition " is often overshadowed by arguments rooted in ideology, "he claimed.
But Dr Aileen McLeod, Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, who gave the keynote address at the conference, defended the land reform proposals. She said: "Our vision for land reform is that Scotland's land delivers the greatest benefit to all the people of Scotland. We fully recognise the expertise and role of land owners in managing land. But we want to see greater collaboration between communities and land owners, with agreement over how priorities and benefits should be delivered from land. I believe that the reforms proposed in the land reform bill will benefit all those with a stake in the future of land ownership and land management in Scotland."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article