Day arrives for land reform

Crofting communities will get the right to buy

By John Knox BBC Scotland political reporter

"The day of the landlord is past."

These words, in Gaelic, rang out from the Labour backbench as Alasdair Morrison from the Western Isles summed up the great land reform debate.

It has been one of the totems of the Scottish Parliament since its inception that it should finally give the land of Scotland back to the people of Scotland.

MSPs approved the Land Reform Bill by 101 votes to 19, with the Conservatives voting against the legislation.

The bill gives everyone the right to responsible access to the countryside, the so-called right to roam.

It also gives communities the right to buy their estates.

In the crofting counties of the Highlands, the right is absolute... the community can buy at any time whether the landlord wishes to sell or not.

In the lowlands, the community has the right of first refusal if the land is put on the market.

'Land grab'

The Scottish National Party wanted the "absolute" right to buy for every community.

Rosanna Cunningham said: "We need to begin to change the pattern of land ownership in Scotland."

The Conservatives opposed the bill throughout its 18 month long passage through parliament.

Bill Aitken said: "This bill has nothing to do with land reform and everything to do with the other parties being obsessed with replaying the class wars of 200 years ago."

He said it amounted to "a Mugabe-style land grab" and would lead to a 21st century Highland clearance as landowners were frightened off investing in their estates and river beats.

This bill has nothing to do with land reform

Bill Aitken MSP

Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie hailed the bill as "a progressive and reforming piece of legislation" which illustrated the value of devolution.

But interestingly, the 200 amendments dealt with by MSPs in marathon sessions of parliament on Wednesday and Thursday included a number which will reassure landlords that the world is not about to change completely.

The right to roam, for instance, can be suspended by a local council order to ensure that agricultural shows or sporting events can still charge people for entering a field.

And the owners of holiday estates, such as Skibo Castle, can apply for an order to keep the public away from their celebrity guests.

The community right to buy is also hedged about with restrictions.

The community has to register an interest in buying in advance, it has to have a viable development plan, and the sale must be approved by the minister.

So the bill is more symbolic than real.

But symbols - particularly in this first parliament - are important.

The desk will sit six people

First minister's question time this week was concerned with three issues - hospital acquired infections, university funding and the cost of the Holyrood project.

This latter developed into an embarrassing press story about a desk in the new parliament which is going to cost £88,000.

It turned out that the desk in question is the main reception desk and it will be used by six people.

Gaelic status

The education and culture committee took evidence from the minister Mike Watson on the Gaelic language bill.

He said he could not support the SNP's Mike Russell's bill at this stage, though he did not rule it out for next term.

Another of those symbolic bills, it would give Gaelic equal status with English.

But the only practical effect would be that public bodies in the Highlands and Islands would have to publish a report on their existing Gaelic facilities.

MSPs on the environment committee found themselves in the unusual position of having a vote that had a real and immediate effect on ordinary people.

They were asked to approve a statutory instrument which would designate Lower Nithsdale in Dumfriesshire a nitrate vulnerable zone (NVZ) after a sample triggered the imposition of a zone under European pollution directives.

'Dubious testing'

Jim Walker, the president of the National Farmers Union, who farms in Nithsdale himself, told the committee it was a rogue result, taken in dubious circumstances, and was part of a campaign by officials in the environment department to increase the number of NVZs in Scotland.

But by six votes to two, MSPs voted to impose the zone and the 200 dairy farmers in Lower Nithsdale will have to limit the amount of fertilizer they use on their fields and build bigger slurry tanks.

On Friday, the local government committee brought out a report which recommended that 16-year-olds be offered the vote in local elections.

"It will help stimulate interest in local politics," said convener Trish Godman.

The committee also called for the age limit for anyone standing as a local councillor to be lowered from 21 to 18.

Hedgehog appeal

Finally, a prickly problem for MSPs.

They are about to receive a petition from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society calling on them to prevent a cull of nearly 5,000 hedgehogs on the islands of Uist.

It seems they are eating too many rare birds' eggs and Scottish Natural Heritage want them to be given a lethal injection.

The Preservation Society has plans to farm out the poor creatures to a network of hedgehog lovers on the mainland.

So, will MSPs defy the landowners again and, emboldened by their land reforms, go on to save the Uist hedgehogs? Watch the entrance to this tunnel.