SELECT Committee reports can often be long, dry and rather bland.
Yesterday's report on the Crown Estate in Scotland is the very opposite.
It is clear, concise and emphatic. The role of the Crown Estate Commissioners in managing Scotland's Crown lands should end. Its responsibilities should be devolved not only to the Scottish Parliament but to local authorities and communities.
What happens next is crucial. Scottish Secretary Michael Moore has indicated he is open to reform.
Prominent Liberals such as Charles Kennedy and John Thurso have always argued for reform and Scottish Liberals need to convince the Treasury to follow the Committee's conclusions. The Scottish Government also needs to make clear its willingness to engage in the discussion.
We are at a historic moment with a broad consensus across politically divided interests. Scotland's MPs and MSPs can make the report's recommendations a reality and many communities are eagerly anticipating the future when Scotland's Crown lands can be administered in Scotland by Scotland's communities in the interests of the Scottish people.
l Andy Wightman is the author of Who Owns Scotland and The Poor Had No Lawyers
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