1. Executive summary
The number of new largescale community land acquisitions has slowed over the past ten years. Largely, respondents in this research suggested this was less to do with a decrease in demand, but rather an increase in barriers to acquisition. Barriers identified by respondents were:
- Stretched community capacity and insufficient support from external organisations;
- Lack of ongoing support for the acquisition from local residents;
- Insufficient available funding, and constraining conditions on its use;
- Overcomplicated and ineffectual legislative mechanisms for acquisition;
- Reliance on a willing and cooperative seller;
- Lack of appetite for risk both within the local community and from funders.
Suggested solutions include:
- Increasing institutional support and community capacity;
- Improving promotion and communication of previous successes;
- Strengthening and simplifying legislative mechanisms;
- Improving and promoting routes to community empowerment short of ownership;
- Enhancing availability of funding and support for the acquisition process.
The vast majority of the thirty-four largescale community land acquisitions are located in two Local Authority areas – Western Isles and Highland – accounting for over 75% of acquisitions and over 94% of hectarage between them. The majority of these assets are crofting estates, followed by woodlands. While these assets and locations continue to dominate the largescale community land sector, in recent years there have been very few such acquisitions. Instead, different types of asset, including nature reserves, have emerged in different Local Authority areas. This may indicate a diversification of the types of largescale community land asset being acquired, but overall there has been a reduction in both the number of and hectarage of largescale community land acquisitions over the past ten years.
The concept of ‘demand’ itself was considered elusive and very difficult to accurately gauge, due to it being significantly affected by the combination of favourable conditions required for a largescale acquisition. Thus, while it is not possible to accurately measure levels of demand over time, it can be stated confidently that there remains a level of demand for largescale community land acquisitions which has not resulted in acquisitions. 3 SEFARI Fellowship to understand changes in demand for largescale community land acquisitions.
The following suggestions and considerations emerged from this work:
Policy
- Strengthen support for, and understanding of, alternatives to outright ownership;
- Introduce a Land Value Tax to deter ‘land-banking’ and offer tax incentives for sales to communities;
- Strengthen and streamline mechanisms (such as Community Right to Buy) in order to encourage communities to utilise them;
- Increase the budget of the Scottish Land Fund in order to keep pace with the rising cost of land. Consider ringfencing money for largescale land acquisitions.
Practice
- Facilitate better peer support and communications in order to address any ‘inspiration deficit’;
- Representative and support organisations to better coordinate assistance for community organisations.
- Research
- Further study the reasons for groups not achieving ownership;
- Consider the impact of the behaviour of largescale private/public landowners on demand for community acquisitions;
- Continue to seek answers regarding the factors affecting demand for largescale community land acquisitions between the major Scottish island groupings.
In addition, we present some more fundamental questions regarding the future role and purpose of largescale community landownership and how success should be judged, which are directly relevant to the interpretation of these findings.
