Background to the work of HIE's Community Land Unit

The ownership, occupation and use of land in the Highlands and Islands have long been controversial topics. History has made them so, and we continue to live with the consequence of that history. The granting of feudal titles to a small number of landowners left the majority with limited rights over a small proportion of the land. The protection afforded to some by crofting legislation has made the legal issues uniquely complex.

The fact remains that Scotland has one of the most concentrated patterns of land ownership in Western Europe, with some 50 per cent of the land area controlled by just over 600 owners. In the Highlands and Islands, this pattern of concentration is even more extreme –with just 85 privately owned estates accounting for about a third of our total land area.

Traditionally, the economics of land management have tended to favour large single geographical units. To be sustainable, traditional estate management requires both high and low ground, so the land market has acted against splitting up estates which might have provided more opportunity for small scale development.

There is evidence, in many areas, of obstacles of various kinds being placed in the way of development. There can be difficulties in obtaining land for local housing and for industrial and commercial use. There can be conflicts in maintaining traditional access for recreation on hills, moorland and the like. Communities can all too readily be deprived of any meaningful say in, or control over, major decisions which affect the land around them.

Access to land is a vital resource in the development of sustainable rural communities. The early 1990s saw the successful acquisition of land by communities in Assynt, and Borve and Annishadder in Skye, with advice and assistance from the local authority and the HIE Network. These pioneering initiatives were given increased political support by the incoming Labour government in 1997. In June of that year HIE, under its strategic priority of Strengthening Communities, set up the Community Land Unit, (CLU) dedicated to supporting community land initiatives.

The work of the CLU supports this process by assisting communities wishing to manage, or purchase, and develop land in the Highlands and Islands. The momentum towards wider land reform has continued, following extensive consultation draft legislation was introduced by the Scottish Parliament in February 2001. This legislation is expected to be enacted by the end of 2002.

A downloadable copy of the HIE Network community land Action Framework is available here (right) in Acrobat pdf format.