PUBLIC money which is given to large private estates should be reclaimed by local communities once they have been sold, a leading charity has said.
Community Land Scotland (CLS) has proposed a change in land ownership policy which aims to stop the country’s land from becoming little more than a “bargaining chip on a casino table” for wealthy investors, corporations and financial organisations.
The charity, which campaigns for radical change to Scotland’s land ownership laws, says that large estate owners are using public funding to inflate the value of estates before selling them on for usually huge profits.
Land owners can apply for government funding or subsidiaries for green projects like tree planting, or peatland restoration, or for other agricultural subsidies to help achieve carbon targets which can amount to millions of pounds.
CLS are calling for a policy like the one proposed by the Scottish Land Commission to the Scottish Government in 2019 called the Land Value Uplift Capture where public money is reclaimed after the sale of a large estate.
Community Land Scotland policy manager Dr Josh Doble said it is only fair for communities to recuperate public funds once a private estate is sold on for a huge profit as the money can be reinvested to benefit the local area.
He said: “Scotland is up for sale and large – often absentee – corporations and individuals are making lots of money from buying and selling land.
“The value of this land is hugely inflated by the public subsidies they received, whether it be tree planting, or peatland restoration or agricultural subsidies for carbon targets.
“When these estates are then sold – increasingly at a significant profit, CLS are calling for a share of that sale money to go directly to the community, a ‘community clawback’, bringing real benefits to the wider population. We have all paid for these subsidies through our taxes and it seems incredibly unfair that wealthy absentee landlords and businesses are benefiting from the increase in values they create.
“That could be a percentage share of the sale going to the community, or it could more directly reflect the amount of public money the estate has benefitted from. This information is all publicly available so it would be easy and straightforward to calculate.
“If the estate is sold for millions of pounds – as many in Scotland are – the local community should get a share of that profit. That is the fair and democratic way to move forward.”
An example given by CLS where the “claw back” scheme could be used is the Far Ralia estate in the Cairngorms which recently went up for sale for £12 million.
The estate was bought three years prior for £7.5m as a means to help the owners offset their carbon emissions from its international business and was awarded more than £2.5m in forestry grants.
Scotland has the most concentrated land ownership in Europe as 433 people and companies own 50 per cent of the private rural land – in comparison with only three per cent owned by communities.
According to CLS in the last ten years, £390m of public money has been spent on forestry subsidies in Scotland, with 80 per cent of it on commercial planting.
Dr Doble recognised the need for green projects to address the climate emergency but stated that public money received by private landowners could be better spent.
He said: “With the largely unregulated market in Scotland, combined with necessary public money support for nature restoration, too often our current system can be open to exploitation.
“We end up with huge tracts of valuable land benefiting remote investors, with minimal benefit to local communities. In times when public money is scarce, this seems especially unfair. It’s time for the communities to get a fair share when Scotland’s estates are sold.”
CLS said the private estate market has been inflated in recent years due to natural capital projects and carbon off-setting increasing the demand for Scotland’s land and has shut local communities out from affording a buyout.
According to a recent report by the Scottish Land Commission, the market is slowing down but CLS has said land prices remain unrealistically inflated.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The way Scotland’s land and natural capital is owned, managed and used are inextricably linked and it is vital that when we consider our land, we don’t just think about how it is managed and used, but who benefits from it. That is why we have an ongoing and unwavering commitment to land reform.
“As part of our preparations for new Land Reform legislation, we continue to engage with all relevant stakeholders to determine how best our land can be used to help address the twin crises of climate change and nature loss.”
