Home   News   Article

Inside Holyrood: We must challenge the idea that 'it doesn’t matter who owns the land as long as there are trees on it' because 'Green Lairds' and MSPs must both remember that a true restoration of the Highlands 'includes reintroducing people to our land as well'


By Scott Maclennan

Easier access to your trusted, local news. Subscribe to a digital package and support local news publishing.



Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!
MSP Emma Roddick.
MSP Emma Roddick.

Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick argues that branding landowners as Green Lairds often hides the fact that 'they have the money to use our land as an asset to offset the damage their business does to the climate elsewhere.'

I kicked-off the tattie holiday recess with a surgery schedule taking me from Nairn to Inverness to Tain before heading up to Wick and Thurso for meetings. I love to take advantage of the weeks I don’t have to be in the remote city of Edinburgh to speak to as many people in the region as possible.

I hoped tying my surgeries into Challenge Poverty Week would give people who were struggling but wouldn’t have otherwise thought to go to their MSP reassurance that they would be listened to. I did receive a few emails afterwards from people who needed a hand with things like their housing and benefits.

Casework is an important part of my job; helping individuals not only means that I am making a direct, small change to their lives but it means that I can see wider trends in what communities are struggling with and spot when policy changes are needed.

Recently, I went on a visit to Alness and Invergordon Academies. I’m delighted that, even in the few years since I attended, Alness Academy has undergone massive change.

Not only is there a brand-new building for young people to enjoy with great social spaces but I got to meet a whole class of pupils taking Higher Politics – something I had to fight for permission to learn on my own. The students at both schools were very switched-on and asked difficult and thoughtful questions.

Looking back at the final weeks before recess, I was glad to have the opportunity to air some long-held frustrations around land ownership and the emergence of 'green lairds' – rich buyers of Highland land who justify contributing to the continuation of a skewed and unjust market by telling us they’re planting trees on it – because they have the money to use our land as an asset to offset the damage their business does to the climate elsewhere.

One SNP manifesto commitment I’m particularly excited by is the presumption towards community buy-outs of land. That will help us to not only increase diversity in land ownership but ensure that local people are involved in decisions on how their land is used. I am certain that most of us would not choose to have that land used as an indulgent, conscience-easing vanity project for big business.

We need to do more to challenge the idea that “it doesn’t matter who owns the land, as long as there are trees on it.” I look forward to scrutinising the new Land Reform Bill, expected in 2023, to make sure it prioritises local communities. I am all for restoration of the natural environment, as long as lairds and MSPs alike keep it in mind that a true restoration of the Highlands includes reintroducing people to our land as well.

Related Story – New 'rewilding' movement in the Highlands aims to attract everyone from business leaders to school kids with spare pocket money


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More