…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
As readers of Land Matters are aware, I take a close interest in the changing face of landownership and the issues that arise from it. Scotland’s land market has been in place for centuries and the underlying dynamics of who
Continue reading
Regular readers will by now have (hopefully) picked up an odd and perplexing intellectual lacuna at the heart of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. Ministers have got themselves into a spot of bother in attempting to justify why someone can
Continue reading
In October 2024, I published a blog highlighting the sale of a 2539 hectare (ha) portfolio of 16 woodland properties across Scotland owned by a French investment fund, Woodland Invest, based in Paris. The largest single investor owning 25% of
Continue reading
In extracts from Nicola Stugeon’s forthcoming memoir, Frankly, published in the Times newspaper, the former First Minister makes a remarkable claim about one of the most shameful episodes in the whole Sturgeon-Salmond drama. On 23 August 2018, the internal Scottish
Continue reading
The 5,530 hectare Griffin Forestry Estate comprises the Griffin and Moness estates in Perthshire either side of the A826 south of Aberfeldy. I have a personal connection with the forest as I planted much of it in my first job
Continue reading
Following my previous blogs here, here and here on the topic of the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCIL), I am pleased to report that after much toing and froing I eventually secured an appointment with
Continue reading
With Stage 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill proceedings now concluded, it is time to take stock of where we are, not just with the Bill, but with the wider land reform agenda. In this blog I want to
Continue reading
Today I am publishing a report analysing large-scale (over 500 ha) sales of rural land in 2023. This follows a previous report covering 2020 – 2022. During 2023, 17 landholdings of over 500 ha changed hands together with 20 landholdings
Continue reading
Local Government: Administration of a town or other comparatively small district by elected representatives of the people who live there, as distinguished from central government; the governing body responsible for this: Oxford English Dictionary Fifty years ago, at midnight tonight,
Continue reading
This blog provides an update on the two previous ones in relation to determining the beneficial ownership of two companies – North Glen Estates Ltd, registered in the Turks and Caicos Islands, which owns North Glenbuchat Estate in Aberdeenshire, and,
Continue reading