Public support bigger changes on land reform, say charities

The public overwhelmingly support bigger changes on land reform, a coalition of charities has said following a public consultation.

The Revive Coalition revealed the results of a survey and consultation on land reform ahead of a final vote on the issue at Holyrood later this month.

MSPs will vote on stage three of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill after what are expected to be multiple marathon sessions to consider more than 400 amendments to the legislation.

On Friday, the Scottish Green co-leaders said they wanted to see more radical proposals in the Bill in order for it to secure the backing of their party.

The Revive Coalition, which is made up of a number of animal welfare and environmental groups, commissioned a consultation process called The Big Land Question.

This included a nationally representative survey of 2,041 Scottish adults taken in October 2024, overseen by the Diffley Partnership.

It found that 78% supported requiring large landowners to meet climate and nature targets, while 67% supported a land tax for large landowners.

Some 80% said the Scottish Government should do more to encourage community ownership, while 50% supported government action to break up large landholdings.

Mark Diffley, director of the Diffley Partnership, said: “What’s remarkable about these findings is that high support exists despite low awareness.

“This isn’t a case of the public being divided or uncertain – once people understand the scale of land ownership concentration, the view of the Scottish public is clear across every methodology we used, and the consistency and strength of findings is striking.”

Max Wiszniewski, campaign manager for the Revive Coalition, said: “Scottish people want fair rules, transparency about ownership, and genuine accountability for how land is managed.

“For example, grouse shooting contributes pitiful amounts to our economy for the damage it does – wildlife tourism, where wildlife is shot by cameras instead of guns, contributes much more.

“This research shows that policies which politicians claim are too radical, like land taxes, ethical wildlife control, and climate and nature targets for large landowners, alongside limits on ownership concentration, actually have strong public support.

“The current Bill has been widely criticised as lacking ambition.”

However a group representing landowners said land reform was not a high priority for most of the public.

Sarah-Jane Laing, chief executive of Scottish Land and Estates, told The Herald: “Revive’s claims are entirely at odds with the independent research conducted by Diffley on the same topic, which found that only 6% of the public consider land reform to be a priority.

“Our own independent research was conducted with the intention of finding out what really matters to people in Scotland.

“For 94% of those surveyed, land reform didn’t even register as an issue.

“Yet Revive’s research appears to be littered with inaccuracies and wilful misrepresentations of the facts of land use and rural business in Scotland.”

She continued: “They completely ignore the fact that rural estates contribute over half of our renewable energy production, and the majority of our woodland creation and peatland restoration.

“It is rural businesses that put food on our plates and roofs over thousands of families’ heads.

“One has to question what Revive are actually doing to address the issues they claim to care so much about.”