AILEEN McLeod’s Agenda contribution on the proposed far-reaching Land Reform (Scotland) Bill (“Putting the people first with our far-reaching land reform proposals”, The Herald, September 1) is to be welcomed for the improvements her Government’s proposals could herald for rural areas. However, what is implicit in the Bill is the intention for the Government to exercise leadership and help the market place to work better. Rural communities have been strangled by affluent second-home owners and disinterested, often absentee, landowners. But the bill will contribute little to overcoming the barriers to housing and development in the urban areas. In reality, while not wishing to diminish the importance of the bill to rural areas, attending to these urban barriers is far more important to the economy of Scotland as a whole.

These barriers were addressed in Part 5 of the Land Reform Review Group’s Report last year. Unfortunately it was decided to consult further on this section of the report rather than include the proposals in the current bill. The measures included compulsory sale orders to tackle vacant and derelict land, major land assembly powers where owners held out for ransom prices, urban partnership zones to tackle complex regeneration, public interest-led development where the market was failing and a housing land corporation to deliver land for social and affordable housing.

These measures are important to all who can’t find a home to rent or afford to buy, because the market needs help to operate more effectively and efficiently. Government policy is driven by the assumption that the market will provide. This has been found not to be true in the rural areas. Crucially it is also not true of our urban areas and it is time that the Government also exercised some leadership and help the private sector work more effectively in our urban areas.

A positive attitude towards development and helping the market place work it would give the private sector confidence and reduce risk, significantly improve the state of the country’s economy, and address the housing shortage issues highlighted by the recent Scottish Household Survey Report.

I hope the Government follows through the current Land Reform Bill with one which addresses the needs of the urban areas.

John Walls,

50 Weymouth Drive, Glasgow.

IT is good to see that Aileen McLeod, the minister responsible for land reform, believes that we should be “ambitious” in reforming the system of land ownership in Scotland. She has a long journey ahead, with many obstacles. On Monday (August 31)this week I tried to access the hills in Glen Etive by crossing the river at the bridge near Alltchaorunn. Despite the passage of the right to roam legislation in 2003 I once again found a locked gate, notices and masses of barbed wire blocking the way. There are still too many obstructions in place which should have been swept away by the 2003 Act. Unfortunately, most government ministers since 2003 have been ineffective in meeting the aspirations that underpin Scotland’s world class rights of public access to land and water.

Even worse, these rights are now under serious threat. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park wants to impose camping by-laws over 100f miles of loch shore and adjacent ground. Elsewhere landowners refuse to provide land for footpaths and camp sites unless they can have by-laws to keep people off the whole of the rest of their land.

If Ms McLeod approves the Loch Lomond by-laws she will open the flood gates to an avalanche of proposals for the regulation of public access over vast tracts of Scotland. We would be on a rapid journey to a system where to step off the path, with or without a tent, will invite a criminal prosecution. That journey will end with an access framework which is far worse than anything in England and Wales or the rest of Europe. The minister needs to keep a sharp look out for dangers along the way as she walks her ambitious land reform route.

Dave Morris,

2 Bishop Terrace, Kinnesswood, Kinross.