£10,000 grant awarded to Dr Annie Tindley

‌Dr Annie Tindley has just been awarded £10,000 by the Scottish Government's Environment and Forestry Directorate to run a project in 2018 around ongoing land issues in Scotland. The project will provide an overview of the history of small landholdings (1911-present) in Scotland, identify the potential to establish a register for those small landholdings still extant, and identify what payments were made to large landowners in their creation. Small landholdings are a unique form of agricultural holding in Scotland, established by the 1911 Small Landholders Act, and later expanded in 1919 under pressure from increased demand for land among returning servicemen from WWI. At one time there may have been c.500 of these holdings; the Scottish Government estimate there are now around 74, but records are patchy and missing, so this project aims to clarify the picture so policies can be put in place for the future.

Land Reform is a major political issue in Scotland, and the devolved parliament has already passed two pieces of landmark land reform legislation (in 2003 and 2016), aimed at supporting community landownership. However, as this project demonstrates, state involvement in land ownership and tenure models is longstanding in the country. This work will use an analysis of the past 100 years of a particular landholding scheme to underpin reform and security for small landholders for the future.

Last modified: Mon, 03 Jun 2019 11:32:23 BST