Because the land is for the people, not private hunting parties

The population of huge parts of Scotland is not small due to the weather or ‘distance from London’ or because the land is useless or unproductive. People cannot build a life outside our cities whilst landowners have total control of huge tracts of the country. Over 50% of Scotland is owned by just 600 people and 10% by 18 people. This is the 21st century! We need to make sure our land is looked after and used productively and responsibly. We need policies that will encourage community buyouts. Land should be managed by the people who live on it. In an independent Scotland we could ensure that large parts of our land resource do not remain the playground of a priviledged few.

‘It is astonishing, in the 21st century, that people are still allowed to burn mountainsides for any purpose, let alone blasting highland chickens out of the air.’ I’d vote yes to rid Scotland of its feudal landowners, George Monbiot The Guardian, Monday 19 May 2014 read full article

“..Community ownership of land is not a novel or new notion. It is a very old one in Scotland’s parishes and burghs. It is just that the landed class, their lawyer friends and successive Parliaments of property owners have conspired (through Acts such as the 1695 one which is apparently of such great importance today) to rob us of our collective inheritance.” Restoring the Commons, Andy Wightman, Bella Caledonia, January 17, 2014 read full article