Us and our land

from Matt Baker:

Driving around the region at the moment I am finding that those huge Vote Conservative posters in seemingly endless fields are making me think about how our region really works and the importance of the land as a resource in our thinking about the future of our region.

This is probably brought even sharper into focus because of the book I am reading at the moment:

website here

Today I got a newsletter from a group called 'Local People Leading' they champion projects led by communities around Scotland  - many of which are really inspiring. This weeks newsletter contained news of a report into land reform in Scotland that was written by Andy Wightman and commissioned by Scottish Communities Alliance (they produce 'Local People Leading)

These are the key recommendations:

1. Promote land reform as a unifying strand of policy that can help deliver existing policies on community empowerment, asset transfer, regeneration, housing, local governance and finance, and renewable energy.
2. Introduce a land value tax and abolish business rates and council tax.
3. Re-introduce Town Councils with statutory powers over planning, land, environment, finance and enterprise.
4. Enact a new Common Good Act to improve the administration and management of common good funds and return them to local communities.
5. Review local governance at parish level with a view to introducing new statutory governance along the lines of French municipalities or Norwegian kommunes.
6. Expand community ownership of housing by community based housing associations and provide them with greater statutory powers and responsibilities for regeneration.
7. Undertake a review of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 with a view to making it simpler to use and more flexible.
8. Bring forward a Succession bill based upon the recommendations of the Scottish Law Commission giving legal rights to children to inherit land.
9. Implement the recommendations of the Scottish Law Commission’s Report on Law of the Foreshore and Seabed.
10. Review the governance of natural resources with a view to increasing local control and decision-making.
11. Transfer statutory powers of Crown Estate Commissioners to the Scottish Parliament and local authorities.
12. Relax planning laws to allow self-build of affordable housing.
13. Review the policy for allocation of forestry grants to prioritise farm forestry, community forestry and individual small-scale forestry.
14. Enact a Land Restitution Act to enable the restoration of common land rights.
15. Place a cap on the level of agricultural subsidies and limit subsidies to one farm per farmer.

The full report can be downloaded here