…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
Professor Jim Hunter, Highland historian and former chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, was a member of the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Review Group until early April 2013 when he left the group for personal reasons. On Monday 3
Continue readingWe are delighted to host this Guest blog from John Bryden who was External Adviser to the Scottish Office Land Reform Policy Group (LRPG) 1997-1999. John delivered the 3rd John McEwen Memorial Lecture in 1996 and now lives and works
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It is probably quite appropriate that today, within 24 hours of publishing her Interim Report, the Chair of the Land Reform Review Group, Alison Elliot, is giving the keynote address to Scottish Land and Estates AGM at Perth racecourse. (1)
Continue readingPictured above – a Danish kindergarten paid for in part by Danish property taxes on Scottish land. The Scottish Government is consulting on the future of the the non-domestic rates (business rates) regime. The consultation closes this Friday 22 February
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Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers with Professor James Mirrlees 2nd from right. The Scottish Government has been consulting on a replacement for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) – one of the devolved taxes in the Scotland Act 2012. The consultation
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The following was first published as a Guest Column in the West Highland Free Press on 3 August 2012. The subject matter is one of a large number of vital topics that should be addressed by the Scottish Government’s Land
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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 readingIn 2010, I undertook some research on Land Value Rating for the Scottish Green Party MSPs and in 2012 for Caroline Lucas MP. In 2014, Ronan Lyons and myself undertook research on LVR in Northern Ireland. The final Scotland report – A Land
Continue readingThis morning, I gave evidence at the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee of the Scottish Parliament as part of their Stage 1 scrutiny of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Bill (see previous posts for further info). One question asked related
Continue readingThe Scottish Government today announced a further three projects that will be developed using the Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) model. This is a mechanism whereby future non-domestic rates (business rates) that arise as a consequence of the TIF financed development
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