Risk to Investment
Some stakeholders were also concerned that lotting provisions could harm investment in Scottish land.iNet Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, Official Report, 4 February 2025, cols 60-61 and written submissions including Association of Deer Management Groups, The Suisgill Estate Partnership, Scottish Land and Estates, Gresham House SLE highlighted that there was no specified timescale for the Ministers to make a lotting decision “which will inevitably slow down the sales of land in Scotland, which in turn could stifle investment in land […] due to the complexity and uncertainty of the buying process”.Written submission of Scottish Land and Estates Others highlighted that private investment was needed to meet climate change and biodiversity targets so considered these targets at risk if there were barriers to investment.iNet Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, Official Report, 5 November 2024, col 38; and written submissions including Association of Deer Management Groups, Gresham House Rob Carlow (Gresham House) considered that this risk of discouraging investment was not theoretical; investment was already being discouraged: “We have examples of people who have been investing in the Scottish rural economy for the past five years now saying that even the discussion around further reformation of land in Scotland is enough”.iNet Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, Official Report, 4 February 2025, col 60
At our meeting with Gresham House, James Jones and Sons and Buccleuch Estates (all large landowners in the Langholm area who we met on our visit...