Absentee landowners must stop blocking community buy-outs of local land
Communities need greater powers to take back local land from neglectful landowners, says Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell.
At the moment, communities are restricted from progressing with community buy-outs of neglected land if the landowner brings a very small part of the area “into use.”
The Scottish Greens have brought forward amendments to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill that would force landowners to bring at least 50% of a landholding into use, otherwise it would be classed as abandoned or neglected, and be eligible for community buy-out.
Mr Ruskell has been supporting the community in Largo, Fife, where plans for the community buyout of local land has been blocked by the landowner converting less than 10% of the holding into a horticulture business, whilst the rest of the site including historic buildings and gardens have been left abandoned and neglected.
Mr Ruskell said:
“For too long, people have been unfairly barred from bringing local land back into community ownership because of a tiny loophole in the law.
“It cannot be right that neglectful landowners are able to leave land ignored and derelict for many years, whilst communities are desperate to bring areas back into productive use.
“The Land Reform Bill should be an opportunity to tackle this kind of inherent unfairness in Scotland’s land ownership - and that’s exactly why I’ve brought these proposals forward.
“For folks in Largo, this ridiculous saga has gone on for too long - it’s time to close the Largo loophole for good."