Woth noting that John Swinney is no friend of local democracy or Parliament 1/4 Exhibit 1. From Cabinet papers Oct 2007 2/4

This is a statement from the Scottish Government 1/5 From 1 April 2024, it is not permitted to install direct emission heating systems. This includes wood fuel systems (boilers, stoves etc). This is a ban on such systems in new build homes. 2/5

THREAD I am pleased to publish Who Owns Scotland 2024, the first comprehensive empirical analysis of landownership in Scotland since 2012. Thank you to the Guardian for covering the story 1/10 theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/m… The full report can be read from the links in my blog which summarises some of the key findings 2/10 andywightman.scot/2024/03/who-ow…

THREAD This is a good example of how the statutory access rights under the 2003 Act have, in some circumstances diminished our historic freedoms. Let me explain 1/8

https://x.com/tundrastyle/status/1766552294047273250?s=20

Prior to the 2003 Act, you had implied consent to walk along this route marked in red. The sign is at the point where you leave the southern track and start heading north to cross the footbridge (red circle) 2/8

BLOG Today I am publishing a report documenting and analysing the rural land market in large scale landholdings from 2020 - 2022. Short thread with some headlines. 1/8 andywightman.scot/2024/02/large-… Report analyses all sales > 500ha plus those below this threshold where buyer owns land above the threshold. This is relevant to the proposed duties placed on large landholdings by forthcoming land reform bill. Data is derived from research behind . 2/8whoownsscotland.org.uk

THREAD - SCOTTISH LAND COMMISSION. On 1 December it was widely reported that former MSP and Cabinet Secretary Michael Russell had stood down as President of the SNP in order to take up a post as Chair of the Scottish Land Commission (SLC). [image] 1/8 At the time this struck me as very odd. Public appointments like this are made after open competition. Imagine you had applied for the post and the first you knew you had not been proposed for appointment was when you read in the media that Russell was lined up for it. 2/8

Mountaineering clubs have 7 days in which to apply for a short-term let license. Just another group caught in the wide scope of legislation too broadly framed. 1/4 Huts like the Alex McIntyre Memorial Hut in Onich 2/4

This week’s landholding of the week is Meikle Conval & the story of a stolen commonty. Meikle Conval is a 2100 acre woodland and moorland property sitting between Aberlour and Dufftown in Banffshire. It is owned today by Marjory Walker of Walker’s Shortbread family. 1/5 2/5 In 1946, the owners of Aberlour Estate sold the commonty to North British Hotels Ltd. despite never having had title. Their only legal right was of an access to the common land. The commonty is marked here on the 1946 deed plan.

Landholding of the week this week is Coille A’Saobhaidhe (savage forest) in the peatlands of Sutherland. In the 1980s, Fountain Forestry acquired land here and sold it to rich people who wanted to avoid tax. it is now part of the carbon rush 1/7 This parcel of 322ha was bought for £33,360 in 1982 by Robin Blair, (a former partner at Turcan Connell and Lord Lyon, King of Arms of Scotland 2001-2008) via his Firm of Charlotte Forestry 2/7

The financialisation of Scottish land - a thread linking Scottish Forests with the Belgian State and Blackrock. 1/8 John Clegg & Co and Strutt and Parker have today published their Forest Market Review 2022 2/8 rural.struttandparker.com/publication/fo…

A thread on wealth creation. 1/9 There has been some discussion of wealth creation and wealth re-distribution in SNP leadership contest. Unfortunately, this has been mostly debated as a binary one or the other. 2/9

10 things to remember when Parliament selects a new First Minister. 1. The Parliament is not voting to appoint a First Minister but to elect a nominee to HM King for him to appoint them.

A historic document has been unearthed in Langholm. The how and why will have to wait for another day but meantime here’s the story. 1/13 Unlike in England (where an individual act of parliament was required to enclose the commons), in Scotland, one simple act of 1695 enabled any heritor in a parish to petition for a division of Scotland scomonties 2/13 legislation.gov.uk/aosp/1695/69

THREAD - Second homes or holiday homes are an unregulated feature of the land market. In some areas they push up prices and reduce the availability of permanent homes to local people 1/9 When local people cannot get a first house, it is wrong to faciliate the purchase of a second one by people from far away who already have a first one. The principal means to regulate this is through the planning system - in particular Use Class Orders. 2/9

THREAD One year ago, Scottish politics was gripped by shocking leaks from the ScotGov Handling of Harassment Complaints Committee prior to publication of its report. 1/9 The leak of some of the Committee’s conclusions took place late afternoon on Thur 18 March and the contents of the then draft report was reported by Sky’s James Matthews at 1858 that evening. 2/9 news.sky.com/story/sturgeon…

THREAD Scotland seems to be sleep-walking into accepting that carbon offsetting is a good thing and that if it can be done in a more regulated way, providing more benefits to communities etc., then it provides useful economic opportunities. I don’t agree. 1/8 What is offsetting? It is the process of capturing carbon from the atmosphere existing, restored or new forests, peatlands, wetlands etc. in order to then (in an accounting exercise) offset or net-zero carbon emissions elsewhere. 2/8

THREAD. Pleased to see @michaeljmarra amendment on Economic Crime Bill LCM was unanimously agreed as was LCM. There have been changes to how land is registered since Dec 2014 but that has no bearing on whether a beneficial owner should be on the Register of Overseas Entities 1/8 If Bill is unamended, then thousands of offshore entities that own land in Scotland will not require to declare their beneficial ownership in the Register of Beneficial Entities including Vladimir Lisin. See this thread 2/8

https://twitter.com/andywightman/status/1500953063070306304

Here are some of the land & property owned offshore & acquired before Dec 2014 in Scotland where the beneficial owners will not be required to register in the new Register of Beneficial Owners in the Economic Crime (Transparency & Enforcement) Bill 1/17 Ardfin Estate, Jura owned by Ardfin Lodge Ltd (Jersey) registered in LR Nov 2010 2/17

The Economic Crime (Transparency & Enforcement) Bill is being rushed through House of Commons today. It includes establishmenrt of Register of Overseas Entities that own property in UK. 1/4 bills.parliament.uk/bills/3120/pub… Such entities have to make a verified declaration of the beneficial owners 1/4 However, the obligation to register is backdated to only Dec 2014 for land & property in Scotland. This is crazy. 2/4

The Welsh proposals are still pretty modest & allow those who can afford it to continue buying 2nd homes when many locals don’t have first ones. 1/3

https://twitter.com/dougsrobertson/status/1500014506285666307

Mind you they are better than ongoing prevarication by @scotgov as illustrated my this meaningless exchange this week. (SNP policy at election was to adopt the planning policy of an English town council which is ineffective) 2/3

THREAD - LAND, TAX, & OLIGARCHS

I remember being ridiculed by a senior SNP MSP for suggesting that the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) which provides 100% relief from local rates benefitted some very rich people. Well here’s an example. 1/7 As highlighted in @ScotNational today, Vladimir Lisin is the beneficial owner of Aberuchill Estate. The estate is owned by Forestborne Ltd. registered in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. 2/7 thenational.scot/politics/19961…