Land Reform Bill: Barriers to buy-outs are removed

West Highland Free Press, 1st March 2001

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: Karen MacAskill of HIE's community land unit (second from left) with Colin Parsons, Ellanne Fraser and Calum Bulloch - all members of the Fernaig Community Trust who plan to be among the first in line to put in a bid to the new Scottish Land Fund launched this week

The latest draft of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, published last week by the Scottish Executive, shows a significant swing back to the radical proposals which they inherited at the time of devolution.

This appears to be particularly true of the crucial crofting community right to buy which was, in the earlier draft, excluded from the proposed Land Reform Bill by the Executive. It has now been reinstated and some of the barriers to successful buy-outs appear to have been removed.

While crofting communities will have the right to get rid of their landlords at any time, if they succeed in following the complex path set out in the legislation, the wider community right to buy - applying to all other land in rural Scotland - will be reactive, in the event of the land coming on the market.

Mineral and salmon rights will be included in both the crofting community right to buy and the wider community right to buy.

In non-crofting areas, it is still the intention that the right to buy should only arise when land is coming on the market anyway. Community bodies will have to match the market price and there will be a requirement to register the community interest in advance of the land coming on the market - though, as a concession to hostility to this condition, there will be a discretionary right to allow bids from groups which have not previously registered.

However, the crofting community right to buy is far more radical and therefore much more likely to lead to initiatives which have early prospects of success. The price will be set by a Valuer appointed by Ministers "on a basis consistent with the compulsory purchase code".

However, in addition to the purchase price, there is to be an element of "compensation" to the landowner which the Draft Bill states are essential under the European Convention on Human Rights. Perhaps ominously, it notes that "landowning interests looked for full compensation to be payable and for an appropriate appeals mechanism".

The document continues: "There may be a risk that the purchasing community body may not be able to raise enough money to cover the eventual compensation bill." Ministers will therefore be given "a discretionary power exceptionally to contribute some or all of the costs in appropriate circumstances".

However, this whole question of "compensation" to crofting landowners as opposed to the Valuer-set purchase price is likely to need much closer examination as the Bill proceeds through its Parliamentary stages.

For crofting community buy-outs to go ahead, 50 per cent of those eligible to vote will have to take part in a ballot with a majority in favour. "All who are on the electoral roll for the crofting townships relating to the land in question" will be eligible to vote.

Western Isles MSP Alasdair Morrison, who is also Scottish Executive Minister for the Highlands and Islands, said that more had happened to advance the land reform agenda since 1997 than in the preceding 100 years. The process initiated by the Labour Government was now being carried forward by the executive.

Mr Morrison told the West Highland Free Press that the crofting community right to buy had the potential to energise communities throughout the Highlands and Islands. He said: "It is now essential that people are made aware of their new rights and that they start preparing to take advantage of them. That is a huge challenge but the rewards will be enormous."

The Limitations placed on the right to buy outside crofting areas was criticised by land campaigner Andy Wightman who said that existing powers of compulsory purchase were not as strong as the Bill suggested and that "we do need some powers of intervention when landlords are not willing to sell their land".

On the crofting community right to buy, Mr Wightman foresaw difficulties in areas where crofting tenants were in a minority and non-crofters could impose their will. However, a spokeswoman for the executive said that the prospect of divisions between crofters and non-crofters "would not be worn" by Ministers when decisions on contentious land issues were made.

The chairman of Highland Council's Land and Environment committee, Dr Michael Foxley, said that the proposals would fundamentally change the relationships between crofting communities who live and work on the land and their current landlords.

"Even if townships do not exercise their right to buy it will make landlords act more responsibly," he said. "Many crofting townships will want to take the opportunity to buy all their tenanted crofting land and common grazings." However, he also wanted to see compulsory purchase powers over non-crofting land extended.

Dr Foxley added: "The Council welcomes the proposed legislation, especially the crofting community right to buy, but the campaign must start today to ensure the necessary amendments and flexibility so that a community can easily action their right to buy."

The Scottish Crofters Union also gave the draft legislation a guarded welcome. "We are pleased to note that the Executive still intends this crofting community right to buy to be a pre-emptive right that does not require the land to come onto the open market first," said SCU president Donnie Maclennan.

However, he added that the executive appeared to have come up with "a right to buy for communities in the crofting areas" rather than a specific right for the crofters themselves to buy their land.

Mr Maclennan said: "We believe the definitions of 'crofting community' and 'crofting township' used in the draft bill could in some cases mean that the crofters themselves will in fact not have the right to determine the ownership of their own land, nor ensure its management in the best interests of crofting. The broad definition used could mean that the crofters' voice would in fact be a minority within the 'crofting community body'. With the proposed more general right to buy not being pre-emptive, there could well be pressure in some areas for broader community interests to use the crofting right to buy for their own ends, over the heads of the crofters."

Article archived at: http://www.whfp.com/1505/main.html

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