Scotland has the oldest system of land registration in the world.
The ancient system is at worst unequal and elite and at best a unique wilderness of untapped potential.
Striking the right balance between old ways and modern methods is proving difficult. The iconic image of tweed and tartan clad lairds are straight off the front of a shortbread tin.
The Scottish Government has been keen to try and modernise the rules to change the ways Scotland’s land is owned, managed, and governed – but who is making use of the reforms, and is it going to make any positive change?
The value of Scotland’s natural assets is splitting opinion. Established industries like tourism and game are increasingly rubbing up against new businesses who promote ecological credentials via forestry restoration and rewilding – many of whom are newcomers to a sector which has existed for centuries.
This friction is causing tension.
Adding to that tension is the question of who actually owns our land in the first place?
The Scottish Government believes that 57 per cent of rural land in Scotland is in private hands. It may not be any great surprise that Scottish Greens are front and centre of calls to overhaul Scottish land ownership.
Land reform campaigner, Andy Wightman MSP, says half of the country’s rural land is owned by 432 people.
The most common perception is that most of this elite group have inherited their estates and have used it for traditional blood sports like deerstalking and pheasant shooting.
However, that’s a view which may be stuck in the past.
More than a million acres of public forestry is managed by Forestry and Land Scotland. It is said to generate around £395m for the Scottish economy every year through timber and tourism enterprises.
There are also a great many foreign business people who simply love the lifestyle the Highlands can offer.
Danish retail magnate, Anders Povlsen, owns 12 estates and more than 220,000 acres of land across Scotland – more than the Queen and the Church of Scotland combined.
Valued at over £120m, Povlsen has put in place a 200-year rewilding plan to allow native woodland and species to regenerate and flourish.
While many would claim that rewilding is important it is not without controversy.
Scottish based beer manufacturer, BrewDog, has recently bought land in the Cairngorms where it says it will plant over 1 million trees.
The PR spin is undoubtedly borne out of the corporate responsibility obligations that big business use to market themselves as ethical. BrewDog says its planting plans will cancel out the company’s carbon emissions and then some – by removing twice as much carbon from our atmosphere as the company emits.
They also applied for £1.2m in public money to help convert the 9,300 acres at Kinrara Estate into woodland.
The company’s woodland ambitions come at another cost.
They have lodged an application with NatureScot for a licence to control the wildlife population from digging or eating the saplings that will be planted.
Wildlife has blatant disregard for borders and boundaries so the hare and deer, which threaten BrewDog’s Lost Forest project, risk being culled if non-lethal methods to control their numbers fail.
It seems a counter intuitive approach given the aim is an ecological pursuit however it proves how circuitous the rewilding arguments are.
Gamekeepers who have worked the land for centuries say their role involves just that – managing the wildlife populations at tolerable levels to allow the local ecology to thrive.
Only their method has been deemed similarly unpalatable by city dwelling environmentalists who don’t like the idea of animals being shot for sport.
Maybe more needs to be done by our public bodies to give greater powers of decision making to rural communities and to raise awareness of the realities of how our land is managed rather than focusing on the moral arguments around who owns it?
The friction won’t go away either.
There must be a way for modern business to be able to sensitively exploit our natural assets, stimulate the economy, create jobs, and make profits but in a way which respects the existing structures and industries which many communities rely on and for which our countryside is famous.
National Apprenticeship Week
National Apprentice Week was observed last week, and I’ve been thinking about how beneficial this route into work is for so many young people and wondering why there aren’t more opportunities out there for this type of work.
There’s a whole swathe of benefits of an apprenticeship – both for the employer and the apprentice – but according to a 2019 report by gov.scot, only 16 per cent of Scottish employers offer apprenticeships. This figure is likely to have sunk even further as a result of the pandemic, and I hope this is addressed in the coming months as apprentices could be absolutely key in our economic recovery.
An apprenticeship is a fantastic way to earn a living while learning new skills and hiring apprentices can really breathe fresh air into a business by bringing in younger voices who often have a different take on things and new ideas to bring to the table.
Some people are so focused on further education and following the path of college or university, and while that is right for some people and essential for some career paths, there are a lot of people out there who would benefit from more practical, hands-on training, which an apprenticeship can offer.
There must be a reason behind the lack of businesses offering apprenticeships scheme, or everyone would be doing it.
Perhaps some employers perceive it as too big an undertaking to train someone up from scratch, or maybe there is a lack of awareness about modern apprenticeships which can work in all sorts of industries.
Whatever the reason is, I’d strongly urge the government to do more to educate and incentivise employers to offer apprenticeships.
It Made Me Laugh
Kilts and Candidates
A small town in Germany has hit the headlines following the launch of an election broadcast by one of its local political parties which, unexpectedly, compares the municipality’s fight for independence with that of Scotland.
The party, Wijchen Lokaal, has created a campaign video which pays homage to Scotland and compares its own struggle to remain independent from nearby town Druten with Scotland’s ongoing independence debate.
Dressed in kilts and set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne blaring out on bagpipes, the candidates march through fields and declare “We believe Scots are always brave, always walk in front if there is a battle to be fought.”
Whatever your views on Scotland’s current political situation, the utterly bizarre video is certainly worth a watch if you’re looking for a chuckle.
It Made Me Weep
Payroll Pressure
The financial struggle many small businesses are currently facing is hardly surprising following the difficulties of the last two years, and it is increasingly difficult to avoid discourse about the economy, but we also need to focus on the strain this is placing on people’s mental health and wellbeing.
A recent SME Recovery Tracker by ACCA and the Corporate Finance Network showed 22 per cent of Scottish SMEs will struggle to meet payroll costs in April, as a result of factors such as rising inflation, interest rate increases, and supply chain issues.
Worryingly, it also showed that one in five employees are feeling more stressed and anxious.
This is a serious problem and I sincerely hope businesses tackle this head on.
