'We should not portray Scotland's estates as rooted in the past when the evidence is firmly to the contrary' - Sarah-Jane Laing

As we have often stated, there is ample room for different types of ownership – private, public, community and charitable - and one fact often overlooked is that the Scottish Government is the biggest single landowner in Scotland.

However, when it comes to private ownership, all too often the very real evidence of the contribution estates make to rural Scotland is cast aside in favour of ideological politics.

That leads to a conundrum where some politicians rail against large-scale landownership but at the same time, want to achieve Net Zero, nature restoration and an increase in house building – much of which needs to be delivered at scale.

New research by leading consultancy BiGGAR Economics, commissioned by SLE, makes clear that scale should be embraced if Scotland wants to reach its targets on

woodland creation, peatland restoration, clean energy and housing.

Indeed, it is clear from the research that fragmentation of land use ownership will both reduce the pace of delivery and also the level of investment available. Large-scale projects to deliver homes or for nature involving single or fewer landowners tend to be less complex, contain fewer risks, and are quicker to deliver than projects with governance agreements between multiple parties.

On forestry, for example, the report found that 45,000ha of woodland has been planted with support from the Forestry Grant Scheme since 2015. The Scottish Government aims to create enough woodland to cover 21% of Scotland’s total area by 2032 - but at the current rate of delivery, it would take almost 48 years to reach this target through only small-scale projects of 0-50 hectares.

Similarly, the research finds that peatland restoration needs to increase by over 300% to reach the Scottish Government’s target of 250,000ha of restored peatland by 2030.

Large-scale peatland restoration projects of more than 200ha – such as those carried out on rural estates – account for 57% of the 42,300ha of peatland that has been restored since 2013.

Only 25% of the target has been achieved through small-scale projects of less than 100ha.

Meanwhile, a report in February described estates as being ‘anchors for thriving communities’, generating an estimated £2.4 billion GVA/year for the Scottish economy and supporting around 57,300 jobs – around 1 in 10 rural jobs.

Rural estates contributed to at least seven of 11 National Outcomes to measure progress towards a wellbeing economy, the report concluded.

This is the reality of what modern estates are delivering in rural Scotland. Rather than the outdated image of ‘lairds’, estates, the owners and the people who work on them are part of diversified businesses that are vibrant, progressive in their approach and see themselves as key to Scotland’s sustainable future. Whilst we know that the land reform debate will continue into the future, it should not seek to portray estates as rooted in the past when the evidence is firmly to the contrary.

Sarah-Jane Laing is the chief executive of Scottish Land & Estates