Landowners’ conference to focus on transparency over land ownership

The demand for more transparency over land ownership in Scotland will be at the heart of a landowners’ conference next month.

The issue will be addressed at the Scottish Land & Estates’ spring conference in Edinburgh on May 25.

David Johnstone, chairman of Scottish Land & Estates, said: “We have gone through an exhaustive debate on land reform over the last two years resulting in a new Land Reform Act passed by the Scottish Parliament.

“It is clear that transparency of land ownership in Scotland is an important issue and as the organisation representing private landowners we recognise that every effort should be made to demonstrate who owns both urban and rural land and what is done to ensure the best use is made of that land.

“We have consistently supported the principle behind measures brought forward in the Land Reform Act to enhance transparency of ownership and are continuing to strongly encourage members to participate in the voluntary registration process. Many rural landowners feel with some justification that they have no problem with transparency and if someone wants to know who is the owner of land a straightforward inquiry to the landowner or estate will very often answer the query satisfactorily.

“However, it is vitally important in the current climate to ensure that any concerns over transparency are addressed. We will be urging those attending our conference to take all possible steps to increase transparency and visibility of ownership.”

For more information on attending the Scottish Land & Estates’ spring conference, visit http://tinyurl.com/SLEconf2016.