…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
Neil King (a retired lawyer) has drafted a bill – the Local Government Amendment (Common Good) (Scotland) Bill – to amend the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to remedy what he considers to be a deficiency in the drafting of
Continue reading
The proposed Portobello High School The fallout from the Portobello Park decision (see previous post) has got me thinking. For a long time I, along with others, have been working to secure better protection for common good land and property
Continue reading
Lady Paton handed down a dramatic decision of the Inner House of the Court of Session today and ruled that Edinburgh Council does not have the legal authority to build a new school on Portobello Park. This has been a
Continue reading
The Earl of Hopetoun, Prince Michael of Kent, The Countess of Hopetoun and Princess Michael of Kent Last night in our ScottishSix show, the topic of Lesley Riddoch’s talk was “Harpies & Quines – is this still Macho Caledonia.” It
Continue reading
Today, the Scottish Government announced the establishment of a “Land Reform Review Group” that will oversee a “wide ranging review of land reform in Scotland”. If this happens it will be very worthwhile. However, the remit and membership of this
Continue reading
This evening I submitted the following report to the Tower Hamlets Division of the Metropolitan Police. “I am contacting you as the police authority responsible for the area in which Barclays PLC, 1 Churchill Place, London has its HQ. From
Continue readingA number of people in the SNP have been trying to persuade me that the Scottish Government is serious about getting land reform back on track. I am prepared to accept this once I see the evidence. Meanwhile events suggest
Continue readingI am grateful to Lallands Peat Worrier for his comments on a draft of this blog. A dispute over a farm in East Lothian may be responsible for the second time in two months for the provisions of an Act
Continue readingLandownership in rural Scotland remains hugely concentrated in the hands of very few large landowners. Whilst the kinds of reforms that might change this appear to be on the back-burner as far as the Scottish government is concerned, there is
Continue readingThe Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Bill is currently being considered by the Scottish Parliament. One topic I have raised is the question of beneficial landownership and land held by companies in tax havens (see previous posts on topic).The Scottish Government
Continue reading