JUST two communities have applied to take neglected land into public ownership since the Scottish Government launched the initiative more than five…
JUST two communities have applied to take neglected land into public ownership since the Scottish Government launched the initiative more than five years ago, The Ferret has found.
The right for communities to compulsorily purchase neglected land – subject to approval by ministers – was introduced in April 2018, but has attracted just three bids from two groups.Helensburgh community’s battle to buy ‘neglected’ woodland THE Helensburgh Community Woodlands Group is one of the two applicants. In 2019, it made a case under the Land Reform Act to acquire two woodlands in the west end of Helensburgh.
To demonstrate support, to group had to raise around £3500 – later reimbursed by the government – to ballot some 2000 homes, and repeatedly knock doors to ask locals to cast their vote. Their efforts paid off when the vote was overwhelmingly in favour. “As a group of volunteers, [a right-to-buy application] is not an easy thing to do. You have to have particular knowledge and skills to be able to do it.”
Since buying the woodland, HCGW has, among other things, addressed the drainage ditches to stop nearby flooding, and begun removing invasive species. It has also made plans – and funding applications – to create a pond in collaboration with the local primary school and an all-abilities path through the woods.“The main challenge is that effectively as a group we’re taking ownership of land and we’re taking public money to buy it,” added Donald.
“Fundamentally, both the community right to buy abandoned, neglected and detrimental land and the right to buy for the furtherance of sustainable development are too high a bar for communities to get through,” said a spokesperson.Right to buy is “a complex process that is made more challenging by the lack of land market regulation and a lack of land ownership transparency,” a spokesperson argued.
In 2022, campaigners told The Ferret that red tape, incomplete data and difficulties tracking down absentee landlords were barriers to the right to buy land in urban areas. “It’s even harder for urban communities to make the case that land should be released in order to ‘further sustainable development’. Basically, the community right-to-buy framework needs an overhaul if it is going to be useful for urban communities.”MSP Mercedes Villalba argued that “Scotland’s archaic land-ownership arrangements are unregulated, unfair and in need of radical overhaul”.
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