…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
One hundred years ago, the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911 was passed by the Liberal Government of Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith. It was a bold and radical reform designed to allow families to obtain landholdings
Continue readingIn the rapidly expanding digital world, it is encouraging to welcome an outbreak of online participation among our elected representatives. Not only do many MPs and MSPs have blogs, twitter accounts and facebook pages but some of them are even
Continue readingThe Liberal Democrats have just published an interesting policy discussion paper on land taxes available here. I am delighted to see this thinking emerging from one of the UK coalition partners in Government and hope that the Scottish party plays
Continue readingI receive regular emails and letters from people on land matters. Quite often, folk will write with tales of how they or their community are having problems with landowners. I thought I should begin to share some of these to
Continue readingEddie Mabo (1936 – 1993) pictured above, left. On 3 June, 1992, the High Court of Australia ruled that the doctrine of terra nullius was a legal fiction and that the native people had good title which pre-dated European conquest.
Continue readingReforesting Scotland is planning to launch an exciting campaign to celebrate, protect, expand and enjoy the world of hutting in Scotland. For decades, ordinary people have enjoyed the freedom to enjoy the countryside in simple huts. However, too many have
Continue readingOK, In 2007, I prepared a paper on proposals for land reform in the 3rd session of the Scottish Parliament. The SNP Government did nothing. Last month I wrote another paper for Scottish Community Alliance on the way ahead for
Continue readingUPDATE 9 April 2011 Actually, the error I identify below (over-estimate of LVT revenue by £123 million) doesn’t look like an error on further examination. The land values in my original report were from January 2009 (the Valuation Office) and
Continue readingI watched Roseanna Cunningham giving evidence to Rural Affairs Committee on 2 March in response to research that the Committee had commissioned into the operation of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. She was clearly up for radical change to
Continue readingReform Scotland today published an interesting report on reform of the planning system to help solve the housing crisis. Well worth a read.
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