As the debate over land reform continues to gather pace, the Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF) has expressed ‘extreme disappointment’ in the ‘lack of ambition and focus’ on addressing issues.

SCF chair Jonathan Hedges said: “The bill is extremely disappointing and we concur with views that this is not actually a land reform bill but a ‘land management amendment bill’, ill-suited to tackle existing land injustices or to strengthening rural communities.

“The bill generally lacks any real bite and does very little to promote the diversification of landownership or to facilitate community ownership. As such, it is unfit to meet the objectives set out in the policy memorandum.”

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The organisation argues the bill makes no substantive mention of crofting and there are no mechanisms that will be capable of significantly impacting the scale and concentration of existing ownership.

Mr Hedges concluded: “Land Reform needs to happen in a fair and equitable manner involving more access to land for communities rather than private owners, and more democracy in decision-making over land.

“The bill does far too little to achieve this. We think that the creation of new crofts is a means of addressing a fundamental principle of land reform, that more land should be used by more people."

However, Michael Russell, chair of the Scottish Land Commission (SLC) said the proposed measures, including lotting – the dividing up of larger units of land for sale – are significant steps towards addressing the impacts of concentrated land ownership in Scotland.

He said: “The proposal for large land holdings to work more closely with communities and publish plans outlining how they intend to use their land will help to increase transparency and disclosure.

“Although the proposed transfer test differs from the public interest test recommended by the Commission, we believe that the inclusion of lotting could make more land available and look forward to consideration of how this approach can have most impact”.

He concluded: “Land reform cannot be done in isolation. This Bill is an important step and we welcome the opportunity to share the evidence and advice published by the Commission to support legislation that will have an impact in addressing the challenges of concentrated land ownership”.