Western Isles MSP welcomes confirmation of land reform legislation review

Western Isles MSP, Alasdair Allan, has welcomed confirmation from Minister for Environment, Stewart Stevenson, that he intends to announce a review of Land Reform legislation during the course of the summer.

Alasdair Allan commented:

“I am pleased that Stewart Stevenson has written to me to confirm that he plans to announce a review of Land Reform legislation during the course of the summer, with any proposed changes to legislation being made in due course.

“The SNP manifesto for the Scottish Elections last year committed the SNP to reviewing current Land Reform legislation with a view to improving it. Whilst I fully support Land Reform legislation I believe that the current legislation has a number of obvious weaknesses.

“Two of the buyouts I have been involved with illustrate, in different ways, the weaknesses with current legislation. In Pairc, the buyout has faced the enormous task of mapping an estate to the satisfaction of complex legislation. In West Harris, the community faced other legal obstacles because the land was government owned. Processes like this need to be simplified for the communities involved.

“The Scottish Government has already established a new Scottish Land Fund of £6 million, which opens to applications on Monday, and which will assist communities with continuing to pursue land buyouts financially. Hopefully, this is the next step in the process of continue to empower local communities across Scotland.”

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