…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
In March 2000, the late John MacLeod announced that he intended to sell An Cuiltheann (the Cuillin). Savills were appointed as the selling agent and advertised the land at offers over £10 million. There followed a public outcry. Some questioned
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The Left Behind Series (1) Investigating who owns Scotland over the years has revealed many fascinating aspects of geography, law, history and politics. This blog is the first in a series that investigates bits of land that have been “left
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The Scottish Parliament will very soon have the opportunity to scrap the Council Tax. This is the first time in the history of devolution that this has been possible. This blog explains why and how this has come about. Earlier
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There are many examples across Scotland where landowners large and small are continuing to frustrate the ambitions of individuals, businesses and social enterprises through the exercise of the fundamental monopoly control of land. In short, if you own land and
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WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST UPDATE Further to my blogs (below and 21 August), the Cabinet Secretary has now provided an on the record statement to Third Force News yesterday (25 August) as follows; Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs,
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On 14 August 2026, Emily Johns was appointed as a member of the Cairngorms National Park Authority to serve a four year term. The appointment was made under the relevant legislation governing Ministerial appointments in order to fill a vacancy
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The image above appeared on the front cover of the Sunday National on 16 August 2026. The story highlighted the ongoing charges faced by the Isle of Skye Ferry CIC, the community company that operates the Glenelg – Kylerhea ferry
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The first CLAN (Community Land Academic Network) conference took place at UHI in Perth on 16-17 June 2026. The lead organiser was Dr Bobby Macaulay from UHI Centre for Mountain Studies and co-ordinator of the CLAN network of researchers. You
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The Scottish Parliament has made some welcome changes to its procedures to increase transparency and accountability but, unfortunately, they do not appear to be making much of a difference. The first alarm bells rung for me when the Parliamentary Bureau
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Following recent posts about my attempts to secure prosecutions for those failing to register the controlling interest in land, I am pleased to see that the Ferret has published an important analysis of the Register of Controlled Persons in Land.
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