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Call for new urban area 'right to buy'
By: Alison Hardie - 25-Jan-2003
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| RADICAL plans to extend the rural "right to buy" to urban Scotland are to come under active consideration by the Executive. |
Andy Wightman, a land reform campaigner, is lobbying ministers to incorporate into Scots law his vision of community buy-outs. He claimed yesterday his proposal would give urban communities the muscle-power to stop unpopular council sell-offs of local amenities, such as football pitches, meeting halls or swimming pools.
The news came the day after the Land Reform Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament, giving communities first refusal on land when it comes up for sale and giving crofters the right to force landowners to sell their land, even if they do not want to.
Mr Wightman rejected claims that urban "right to buy" might lead to bogus "land grabs" and throw the private property market into disarray. He said: "The reality here is that land reform was never meant to be solely a rural issue, but that attitude is entrenched now."
Mr Wightman said the Executive had already taken a big step towards urban "right to buy" with its council house stock transfer policy. But Bill Aitken, for the Tories and a staunch opponent of the Land Reform Bill, said: "I cannot imagine that too many people in Easterhouse, for example, would be willing to form a community group with a view to staging a buy-out of their houses and land from Glasgow City Council.
"The fact of the matter is this would be totally unworkable in urban areas. Of course, the fact that the idea is unworkable does not mean this Executive will not pursue this line. It's been proven time and again they have a tenuous grasp on reality."
The Executive is in the process of bringing forward secondary legislation to define the term urban in relation to its Land Reform Bill.
Ministers currently favour the criteria of rural as "land with less than 3,000 people living on it".
If this is accepted by the parliament after a period of consultation, the "right to buy" will not exist in urban centres as diverse as Perth and Prestonpans.
Mr Wightman claimed last night this would discriminate against smaller communities or community groups in major cities fighting to save local amenities or provide a community focal point.
He said the "right to buy" could help people in towns halt the sell-off of their village hall or prevent sport facilities being sold off to housing or retail developers.
Mr Wightman claimed that the struggle between the residents of Govanhill and Glasgow City Council over the closure of the local swimming pool could have been averted with a "right to buy" solution.
He added: "Typically, in an urban situation the act would apply to recognised groups such as the Gorgie and Dalry Community Group in Edinburgh - it would make perfect sense, for example, if the Gorgie City Farm was threatened with closure and local people wanted to save it.
"That's quite a different prospect to ten neighbours clubbing together to make a claim on another neighbour's house. For starters, they would find it exceptionally hard to meet the crucial criteria of public interest." Mr Wightman said his proposal had the support of the Council for Voluntary Service and community enterprise bodies.
An Executive spokesman said last night: "The definition of right to buy will be contained in secondary legislation and we will consult widely and obviously consider Mr Wightman's views."
