…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
Image: Intensive grouse moor management on Millden Estate, Angus. A report on the damaging environmental and social impacts of the intensification of grouse moor management in Scotland is published today by the League Against Cruel Sports. The authors of the
Continue readingThis blog is reproduced with permission from the University of Glasgow’s Policy Scotland blog. In May 2014, the Land Reform Review Group submitted its final report to the ScottishGovernment. The First Minister announced in November 2014 that the Government would consequently bring forward a Land
Continue readingImage: Land Reform Minister, Aileen McLeod at launch of Land Reform Bill with Carluke Development Trust. Photo by Scottish Government. UPDATE 13 August 2015 My Written Evidence to the Rural Affairs Committee The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was published by
Continue readingThe provisions in the Scotland Bill for the devolution of the management of the Crown Estate in Scotland are complex and unclear (see previous blog for background). Last week, the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee (RACCE)
Continue readingIntroduction One of the Smith Commission agreements was that responsibility for the management and revenues of the Crown Estate in Scotland should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. (1) This Agreement reflected the widespread consensus in Scotland that the management
Continue readingImage: Aileen McLeod MSP speaking at conference on Scottish Land and Estates. This month, the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Aileen McLeod MSP gave two significant speeches. The first was on 19th May to the Annual Meeting
Continue readingImage: Badinloskin, Sutherland This is the Keynote Address by Professor James Hunter given to the Community Land Scotland Annual Conference, New Drumossie Hotel, Inverness, 21 May 2015. James Hunter In September 2009, the best part of six years ago, I was opening
Continue readingDick Balharry, one of Scotland’s foremost naturalists died today. Last week, in Glen Feshie, he was awarded the Geddes Environment Medal for a lifetime’s achievement in environmental work by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (pictured above). I am grateful to
Continue readingScottish Land and Estates, the organisation that represents some landowners in Scotland, attracted a fair bit of press coverage last month for their claim that potential reforms to Scotland’s agricultural tenancy laws could leave the Scottish Government open to compensation
Continue readingGuest Blog by Dr Helen Armstrong Wild deer in Scotland belong to no-one – in legal terms they are res nullius. Yet this public resource has traditionally been managed exclusively by the owners of land. How to ensure the public
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