Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Alex Fergusson has dismissed the Land Reform Bill as a ‘missed opportunity’ for Scotland. Speaking after the launch of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee’s Report on the General Principles of the Bill, Mr Fergusson, who is the Scottish Conservative Rural Affairs spokesman, said:
“Given that the Scottish Government has an inbuilt majority on the Committee, this report is remarkably critical of the Bill as it was laid before Parliament. While there are aspects we can all agree on such as transparency of ownership, too much detail has been left to future secondary legislation for us to be sure of the impact of some of the measures within it. That has made scrutiny of the proposals – which is the primary role of the Committee – extremely difficult. Nowhere is that more obvious than with the proposals to reintroduce sporting rates, about which the Government clearly has carried out no analysis into how they will be implemented, how much they will raise, how much it will cost to implement and collect or even what the real purpose is!”
“Where the Bill becomes really unstuck, however, is in Part 10, Agricultural Holdings, which I have always argued should have been a separate Bill. There are 2 stated aims, namely to create a vibrant tenanted sector and an environment that encourages people who have land to let to do so. Those are laudable aims, but I am convinced that this Bill cannot and will not achieve those twin aims, however much it may be amended at Stage 2, and the late introduction of a possible tenants right to buy will certainly not help”.
“However, there is now a real desire amongst all stakeholders, landowners and tenants, to achieve a long term sustainable solution bringing mutual trust back into the landlord/tenant relationship and ensuring that the Scottish tenanted sector is truly reinvigorated. The only way to achieve that is to withdraw this part of the Bill and facilitate that debate. The time is right for that debate, and there is a genuine desire to hold it. The question is whether the SNP would rather deliver a pre-election headline or a genuinely vibrant tenanted sector. They cannot achieve both by pushing this ill-thought out Bill through Parliament”.
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