1. Land Reform: What counts as success?
Graeme Beale
Head of Rural Communities Research, Scottish Government

2. Land Reform 2016 Story so-far
Land Reform Act Passed March 2016 (Secondary legislation and commencement actions over the next two years)
Some key features for this audience:
Urban and rural coverage
Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement
The Scottish Land Commission
Transparency
Community Engagement Guidance and measurement
Right to buy land to further sustainable development
(Also Agricultural Holdings provisions, though these are now being handled separately.)

3. Land Reform 2016 Story so-far
Looking forwards – research challenges:
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 places a duty on Scottish Government to produce guidance on community engagement with decisions relating to land, and to monitor the effectiveness of that guidance and the engagement delivered through it. The Act commits SG to produce an evaluation after 3 years, and then at least every 5 years subsequently.

4. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research

5. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research
This research looks at four different but related issues:
The impact of diversity of ownership, on the socio-economic fabric of rural communities
A process evaluation of the Scottish Land Fund
Good Practice in overcoming barriers to community land-based activities and
Empowering communities and stakeholders in rural land use.

6. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research
Diversity of Scale of Ownership Research
Aim: to identify the local impacts of differing scales of rural land ownership in Scotland on social, economic and environmental outcomes.

7. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research
Diversity of Scale of Ownership Research
Methods: Paired case study areas measured over the past 100 years. Case studies involved quantitative assessments of the demographic, economic and environmental consequences; also qualitative work including in-depth interviews and focus groups.

8. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research
Diversity of Scale of Ownership Research
Findings
A wide range of factors influence the socio economic outcomes for a community. These include:
Proximity to large urban areas
Infrastructure changes both fixed and public transport
Changing industries – fewer employed in land industries more in tourism
Societal change e.g. falling church attendance and fewer community cohesion opportunities
Land use patterns & land ownership – but not at the top of the list

9. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research
Diversity of Scale of Ownership Research
Findings
Differences due to ownership structures – is there good news with a more fragmented structure?
Areas with fragmented-ownership did, however, exhibit higher agricultural output and higher population growth than concentrated-ownership parishes, though not necessarily attributable to ownership scale.
(Thomson et al. 2016)

10. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research
Land Fund Evaluation
Approach
PhD Intern evaluating data from Big Lottery & HiE and speaking to communities groups
Findings:
Generally viewed well by the communities that have accessed it
May be a need to think about revenue more about support with applications
Need to think about HiE vs non-HiE areas
Respondent concerns over
Urban expansion
Risks in terms of LAs using the fund to avoid ‘booking’ loses

11. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research
Empowering Communities in Land Use
Approach
Dialogue Matters Consultancy and Prof. Mark Reed,
Interviews with environmental professionals in Scotland
2 internet survey of public sector and third sector organisations
General one on opportunities and challenges of engagement (n75)
Specific one on success stories (23 responses)
Mapped against an empowerment model from Bovaird

12. Land Reform – Recent SG Sponsored Research
Empowering Communities in Land Use
Findings
Positive signs around language and enthusiasm
Lots of examples of shared planning
Very few examples of shared delivery
Lots of organisations seemed to be starting from scratch rather than incorporating National Standards for Community Engagement, charrettes or other systematic approaches
Challenges around having sufficient staff training, organisational resource and culture in some areas about being ready to take an active part in co-producing land use services.