Communities & the Land Reform Bill
In this Insights Report, Dr. Carey Doyle draws on her experience in town planning and community owned land initiatives across Scotland. Having previously worked at Community Land Scotland, Carey has been deeply involved in supporting and empowering local communities to navigate the complexities of land ownership and use. These are her suggestions as to how Scotland's latest Land Reform Bill (introduced 2024) can better support the land needs of communities.
Scotland's model of community empowerment, and community landownership specifically, is premised on community groups proactively addressing their needs. However, there is very little provision for community empowerment in the draft Land Reform Bill 2024.
What could strengthen proactive communities within the Land Reform Bill proposals? A community site designation, such as a 'Site of Community Significance', could reinforce the long term Scottish Government commitment to supporting communities to address their land needs. Such a designation would provide an initial proactive marker of community land need to engage in the provisions of the Bill. It could also better integrate the proposals of this Bill with the wider set of policies like Community Right to Buy and Local Place Plans, moving towards simplification, integration, and strengthening of an increasingly complex policy framework.
This Insight Series report reviews the context for such a policy and explores how it could work within Scottish Land Reform policy and practice.
Read the full report here or at the link below, DOI: https://doi.org/10.58073/SRUC.27181011.v2
