I wrote a piece about the 1914-1919 war and the talk by the wonderful Margaret Hubbard. To read it, click here. I should have said that she’s written several books about Innellan and these are available in the Lido Innellan or the Dunoon Observer shop in Dunoon. Well worth reading, front covers pictured above of 2 of them.
I also wrote a piece about land reform, see here. Community Land Scotland has now given its response to the Scottish Government. The summary of their response is provided below. If you want to read the full response, click on the link below.
High Level Summary
CLS supports –
- the general principles of the Bill
- the need for the Scottish Government to publish a Statement of Land Rights and Responsibilities
- the creation of a Land Commission to make land reform a continuous process of change
- greater measures to make who owns Scotland more transparent
- the additional Community Right to Buy to further sustainable development
- the provision for community body nomination of a `third party’ to own land
- the re-introduction of `sporting rates’
- new powers to SNH to have deer numbers and impacts managed more effectively
- improved rights for tenant farmers
The Bill needs to be stronger by –
- requiring Ministers to have regard to the progressive realisation of human rights, and the delivery of greater diversity in land ownership in making the Statement
- toughening up the requirements for information from proprietors on who owns and benefits from ownership of Scotland’s land, by requiring certain information to be disclosed
- giving further powers to Scottish Ministers to intervene in land ownership, in the public interest, to further sustainable development, and support the creation of new settlements
- toughening up the requirement for land owners to engage with communities, and to include seeking the consent to local land management decisions