3. Context
The Scottish legislative and policy context has created several opportunities for community ownership. In 2026, the Scottish Government reported on their review of Community Rights to Buy legislation which intended to identify ways to simplify and encourage more use of the rights. The findings of the review are positive and should be taken forward. The review suggested proposals for legislative change but also identified some non-legislative improvements to processes.4 This report and findings complement that review by focusing on the wider system and support for community ownership.
In 2025, the Scottish Government concluded a review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.5 The Act recognises that community empowerment can enable people and communities to shape services locally and take action to support the creation of successful places across Scotland. It is key to the future delivery of public services and a key aspect of the Scottish Government’s approach to public service reforms. The review identified a several actions including a need for evaluation of the impact of Community Asset Transfer ownership and lease on local communities and how this is contributing to community empowerment and public service reform.
In 2025, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act was introduced setting out requirements for greater transparency and community engagement by owners of large landholdings. It also sets out a ‘prior-notification’ process to help regulate the land market to end private off-market sales of large estates. However, this will likely have limited impact for community land acquisition because the timescale of 100 days to complete the process (based on late applications under the Community Right to Buy Part 2 process) is not practical unless a community body is already constituted in line with eligibility criteria.6
Community ownership is explicitly referred to in the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Act passed in 2026. The aim of community wealth building is to generate, retain and circulate wealth locally to reduce inequality and create an inclusive economy. Ensuring that local communities gain from land and property assets and growing wider socio-economic value from these assets is a key pillar of community wealth building.7
Local authorities and relevant public bodies are now required to publish and implement a community wealth building action plan that includes measures for diversifying ownership of land, energy or other assets by facilitating or supporting community ownership. Scottish Ministers have yet to prepare community wealth building guidance.
Identifying locally important land and buildings is also a feature of Scottish planning policy. The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 creates an opportunity for community bodies to develop Local Place Plans that can influence wider planning processes such as Local Development Plans. These map land and buildings that the community sees as being particularly significant and identify location-specific proposals important for a community’s future development.
Despite the policy intent, in practice the delivery and experience is shaped by different factors and contexts. Wider market trends suggest that there are more barriers for community groups who wish to act as economic actors or support wider place-making.
The Scottish Land Commission’s annual rural land market reports suggest that political and economic uncertainty has led to overall less churn in the land market and fewer large-scale land transactions.8 However, there is continuing demand from investors and landowners for land for renewables, agriculture and natural capital projects. Although the rate of increase has slowed, prices remain high and supply of land for sale remains low which makes it challenging for community acquisitions. In an urban context there are issues around vacant buildings, derelict land, and the changing state of the built environment that can create additional challenges for community ownership. The built environment is expecting some drastic changes with 800 churches at risk of disposal by the Church of Scotland.9 62% of community groups in contact with the Community Land Scotland Glasgow Hub, a source of dedicated community ownership support, were impacted by less access to resources or “disadvantaged”. These communities were in the top two most deprived deciles by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.10
3 Scottish Land Commission (2026) ScotLand Futures: What we heard.
4 Scottish Government (2026) Community Rights-to-Buy review.
5 Scottish Government (2025) Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015: update and findings report
6 Scottish Land Commission (2025) Advice to Ministers on the Land Reform Bill- Part 1.
7 Scottish Parliament (2025) Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill.
8 Scottish Land Commission (2026) Rural Land Market Reporting.
9 Development Trust Association Scotland (2025) DTAS Debates: Taking on Former Places of Worship
10 Community Land Scotland (2024) Community Ownership Hub Final Report: Summary.
