Social Land Ownership

SISTER SITES

Caledonia
Who Owns Scotland?
Land Reform
Land Reform Guidance
Commonweal Papers
Networks of Agents
Training of Trainers

"Access to the Land"

The three pieces in this collection were first published in 1996 in "Access to the Land" which was commissioned by

They were researched and written by David Reid of the Centre for Human Ecology, then part of the University of Edinburgh, but now an independent ‘think-tank’ with its own web-site.

"Access to the Land" originated in the concern of people in rural communities in several parts of the Highland and Islands about the difficulties they have experienced in gaining access¹ to land and natural resources as they attempted to promote projects and schemes intended to bring social, economic and environmental benefits to their communities. The aims of the study were to review and assess some of the main opportunities for access which exist at present under current patterns of land use and the current system of land tenure and to consider ways in which these might be extended.

The following three studies give examples of the kinds of access to the land and the benefits deriving from such access which are possible under existing patterns of land use and landownership.

1. Throughout this study the term ‘access’ is used in its wider sense of stakeholding in the land resource, and is not restricted to the issue of the right to gain physical access or to roam.

Photocopies of the full report are available from:

Graham Strachan

Town House

Inverness

Scotland IV1 1JJ

email graham.strachan@highland.gov.uk