PROTESTERS will descend on the Taymouth Castle estate on Sunday to demonstrate against the concentration of Scottish land ownership – and call for “stronger” reform than is currently being proposed by the SNP government.
In a demonstration organised by the Landworkers' Alliance union, farmers, crofters, and activists will take part in a rally followed by a walk through the Taymouth estate at Kenmore – which is being redeveloped by the US real estate firm Discovery Land Company (DLC).
DLC creates members-only compounds across the globe which are aimed at the mega-rich. They charge initiation fees of up to $300,000 and follow-up annual fees of as much as $37,500. In addition, house prices on DLC land are well into the multi-million-dollar bracket.
Community Land Scotland’s Flora Brown said: "What has happened in Kenmore is largely the result of a lack of robust regulation in Scotland around who can own land and what they are allowed to do with it.
“The land grabs by the DLC are a symptom of using land primarily for international profit, not for the people living there or for the public good.
“We need stronger land reform legislation, such as public interest tests on land purchases (not sales), fit and proper person tests, and a presumed limit on ownership, so that what happened in Kenmore won’t happen elsewhere."
The SNP government’s Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced at Holyrood in March of this year and aims to crack down on large land ownership.
It includes measures that will apply to large landholdings of more than 1000 hectares – such as forcing owners to show how they use their land and how that use contributes to key public policy priorities – and could prohibit sales until large plots are broken into smaller parts to help communities acquire land and thrive.
Large landholdings of more than 1000 hectares represent more than 50% of Scotland’s land, according to the Government.
However, the Landworkers' Alliance (LWA) said the bill “doesn’t go far enough to protect the interests of local communities in large-scale land sales such as that of Taymouth Estate”, and is calling for the inclusion of measures which will open up land for new entrant farmers and affordable rural housing.
✊ Join us THIS SUNDAY in Kenmore for a day of action for #LandJustice! Find out more below, and let us know you'll be there! 👇https://t.co/jAzpuGqtO8 pic.twitter.com/Y4QGnTi94I
— Landworkers' Alliance (@LandworkersUK) July 23, 2024
Catherine Kwella, a new entrant farmer represented by the LWA, warned that “Scotland's highly unequal patterns of land ownership are one of the biggest barriers to establishing a new project, or to working on existing farms”.
Kwella went on: “One major issue in rural areas is a lack of affordable housing (or many options for renting at all) close enough to work. I am lucky to have secure housing now near the farm, but people working more seasonally struggle to find places to live.
“A lack of transparency around who owns land also makes it difficult to approach landowners about renting a plot. From a market gardening perspective, securing a site close enough to markets (ie near a town or city) is near impossible due to the price of land, which is driven up by speculation and big developments."
Chris Heasman, a local campaigner in the Kenmore area, said the DLC development was a “shocking example of what can happen when developers are allowed to buy up vast amounts of land and operate without scrutiny or impediment”.
“It's hard to gauge the extent of the damage caused to the environment, local wildlife, and archaeological sites in the area — and, thanks to the company's secrecy about their plans for the area, it's impossible to know how much further they will go in the years to come,” he said.
As The National has previously reported, DLC’s development on Loch Tay has been mired in controversy after satellite images revealed breaches of planning rules, a listed monument was smashed, and plans were submitted to build a golf cart garage on land earmarked for affordable housing.
The demonstration at Kenmore will take place from 1pm outside the Taymouth Castle gates, with speeches and the walk through the grounds to follow.
