Buying Back Scotland

Community buy-outs and the Scottish Land Funds

Peter Gibb
Geophilos, Issue No 2 (1), Spring 2002,

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The land reform agenda in Scotland prescribes another approach to the incremental transformation of the nation-state. The legal opportunity for communities to reclaim land from the modern feudalists is reviewed by Peter Gibb.

The land buy-back law [Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003] may not deliver system-wide benefits fast enough, but it arouses a consciousness that could elevate political discourse to realms of action that would deliver justice and economic equity for everyone within the present generation. Although currently restricted to rural property, the Scottish law may animate the imaginations of politicians in favour of a generalised solution that also embraces the territorial interests of town dwellers.

In this article a set of clear proposals are outlined that would reform the Scottish Land Funds by making them: more equitable; more resource efficient and thus capable of serving a greater number of communities; and more sustainable over the long-term.