Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the diversification of land ownership.
The Scottish Government has taken a number of important steps to support its Land Reform objectives including supporting diversity of land ownership.
The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is currently being considered by Parliament and represents a significant step forward on Scotland’s Land Reform journey. The Bill will give communities more opportunities to use their Right to Buy and will stop sales of large landholdings from proceeding until Ministers can consider the impact on local communities. Ministers will be able to require land to be sold in lots, further supporting diversity of ownership. The Bill will also require landowners to engage with local communities, giving them more of a say in how land is used and managed, and will also improve the rights of tenant farmers.
The proposals in the Bill build upon the success of earlier legislation such as the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016. This helped establish the Scottish Land Commission which provides evidence-based advice to inform land policy in Scotland and also works to support good practice in land ownership, management and use, and also the functions of the Tenant Farming Commissioner.
As Summary of Research and Recommendations has shown, concentrated land ownership and the associated lack of supply of land can lead to many important social, economic or environmental objectives being more difficult to achieve. That is why we are taking ambitious action to tackle it through the Bill and other work. These steps support the many sector-specific policies that apply to all land, irrespective of ownership.
Scotland has a proud history of land reform since devolution. The Government is committed to driving forward land reform and increasing diversity of land ownership in a way that is fair, proportionate and within the terms of the current devolution settlement.