Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many compulsory purchases of a building or land under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 have taken place in each year since 2003, broken down by local authority area.
There have been no compulsory purchases of a building or land under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 since 2003.
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 originally contained two rights to buy.
The Community Right to Buy (Part 2) which is a right for a compliant community body to register an interest in land. If granted, this right means that if and when an owner of such land should decide to sell, then the community body is given the first option to buy at market value. This is not a compulsory purchase power.
The Crofting Community Right to Buy (Part 3) is a right that applies only to crofting areas and which, if granted, gives a compliant crofting community body the right to force the compulsory sale of the crofting land identified in their application. Only two Part 3 applications have ever been approved, but these were not taken forward as the owners in both cases agreed to a negotiated transfer.
The Community Empowerment (Scotland) 2015 inserted a third right to buy to the 2003 Act. This third right was the Community Right to Buy Abandoned, Neglected or Detrimental Land. This right, if granted, gives a compliant community body the right to force a compulsory sale of land which is either abandoned, neglected or detrimental to the wellbeing of the community. To date, there have been three applications under this part of the Act and none of these have been approved by Scottish Ministers.