Andy Wightman & Caledonia Centre for Social Development

The Caledonia Centre for Social Development proposes to document the landownership of over 75% of Scotland by harnessing the power of the internet. A website will be constructed which will be freely available to the general public, community groups, not-for profit associations, academia and the media. The project costs are £73,815 over 2 years, with a recurring annual cost thereafter of £6,200.

We have decided to develop a website for three main reasons: -

• ongoing demand for easily accessible information on landownership (demand which will accelerate as land reforms take effect).
  
• the limitations of printed books as a medium for disseminating large volumes of data
  
• the technical advances in the internet and mapping technology.
  
  

Our philosophy is as follows: -

• to provide straightforward and quick access to information
  
• to keep things as simple and structured as possible
  
• to respond to the aspirations and needs of our users
  

Comments so far.....

“Excellent initiative - I wish you every success with your web-site project.”
SNP Member of the Scottish Parliament.

“..it looks like a valuable resource in the making.”
Senior Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament

“I know how much work you have done in this area and I welcome all moves to open up information on land ownership in Scotland.”
Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament

“..a superb initiative: transparent, readily-accessible, up-to-date information has to be a major step in raising and maintaining awareness of land ownership and market processes.”
International Environmental Consultant.

“..have had a look at the site and just wanted to say that it looks extremely good, the information is well suited to the web and should be available to all.”
Senior conservation official in landowning NGO.

“..impressive..”
Leading Academic at Glasgow University.

“The content is well laid out and logical.”
Senior Environmental NGO officer.

“Very interesting “
Senior Academic at Edinburgh University

Caledonia Centre for Social Development
The Caledonia Centre for Social Development is a not-for-profit charitable company, of which Andy Wightman is one of four Directors. Caledonia provides an international network  for information, research, technical services and training in social development. It hosts a website at www.caledonia.org.uk with a land reform site at www.caledonia.org.uk/land and a site devoted to social and community landownership at www.caledonia.org.uk/socialland. Members and supporters live and practice in the spirit of self-reliance, mutual assistance, collaborative advantage, countervailing power and service to others. The Centre aspires to operate according to the cooperative principles set out by the International Co-operative Alliance.

Andy Wightman
Andy Wightman is a freelance writer and researcher specialising in land tenure and rural development. The author of Who Owns Scotland (Canongate, 1996) and Scotland: Land and Power (Luath, 1999). He is also a Director of the Caledonia Centre for Social Development’s Land Programme and a member of the New Opportunities Fund’s Scottish Land Fund Committee. He is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen and a part-time Research Associate at Moray House Institute of Education, University of Edinburgh.

The skills and resources at the disposal of Andy Wightman make him the best qualified person to carry out this work. He has a good working relationship with the Scottish Executive (despite being one of its most prominent critics on the subject of land reform), with the Registers of Scotland, National Archives of Scotland (the legal source of ownership information) and many academic and non-governmental organisations.

Andy Wightman will be in charge of the project. Caledonia will provide, through its other Directors, strategic guidance and support.

Context
The question of who owns Scotland has long been of interest to those concerned with the social and economic future of rural Scotland. Unfortunately, despite the existence of public records in the Registers of Scotland, it is a difficult question to answer without substantial effort. A visit to Edinburgh and the assistance of specialist staff is necessary for most enquiries. Obtaining an overview of landownership across Scotland and through time in such circumstances is impossible.

The Scottish Executive recently commissioned research to evaluate the demand for a more accessible record of landownership (click here for further information and a copy of the report). It showed that 78% of respondents wanted better information on landownership. Despite this, the review concluded that a case could not be made for investing in a new, more accessible system. This was largely justified on flawed cost estimates and the fact that the study was conducted against a backdrop of financial constraints. Critically, most respondents were unaware of the opportunities and potential for the simple web-based system proposed here.

Above all, we are convinced that such a project can be handled and delivered with more innovation, imagination, relevance, good humour and practicality than anything done by commercial consultants or government contracts.

Why Who Owns Scotland?
The pattern of landownership is an important influence on how land is used and on the social and economic development of communities. Currently, in Scotland, the pattern of landownership is massively concentrated in a few hands which leads to the social and economic disempowerment of rural communities.

Understanding this phenomenon is vital to addressing the question of what, if anything, to do about it. Providing public information about landownership is essential to this understanding and, in addition, provides a range of other practical benefits to individuals, communities and organisations who need, for a variety of reasons, to know who owns Scotland.

The Project
Andy Wightman is currently embarking on a major rewrite, update and expansion of Who Owns Scotland. This will identify the ownership of around 75% of Scotland’s privately-owned rural land from public records and other sources. The original publication managed to account for 65%.

This time, given the advances in communications technology, it is possible to publish a website which will contain the results of this research. This will involve the construction of around 3000 web pages with details of individual landholdings together with maps.

The project is scheduled to take two years to complete. From Year 3 onwards there will be a rolling programme of updates to maintain the currency of the information.