The Scottish Land Reform Convention is an independent civic forum established by the Scottish Civic Assembly.

The Convention has the four core principles of sovereignty, democracy, social justice, and stewardship

The four founding partners of the convention were:

Action of Churches Together in Scotland
ACTS

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
COSLA

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
SCVO

Scottish Trades Union Congress
STUC

Click on the acronym for a statement of intent

Action of Churches Together in Scotland, welcomes the establishment of the Scottish Land Reform Convention.

Land is a precious gift, to be used with care and for the good of all who live on it. Over time, anomalies, injustices and bad practice have become evident in our ownership and use of land. Now there is the opportunity to embark on a comprehensive programme of land reform.

The Scottish Land Reform Convention will enable this programme to he scrutinised widely and in detail by everyone who is affected by it. We wish the Convention well in its work.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities believes that land reform should seek to ensure that local communities have a greater involvement in the management, use and ownership of land.

Councils, by taking a lead in the Community Planning process and working in partnership with other local agencies, are well placed to ensure the integration of policies on land use and management into the overall policy framework for their local area.

In this way councils can help realise the wider economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits that access to the land resource can provide for local communities.

Finally, as landowners themselves, councils can also play a leadership role and provide examples of good practice

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is pleased to be a founding partner of the Scottish Land Reform Convention.

One of the key gaps that the Convention will fill is the opportunity to widen out the debate about land ownership and land management and all the other issues relating to planning, tenure and control.

This debate should involve all the people of Scotland, its an issue which should he wide ranging and cover both rural and urban areas. Land reform is as much an issue for tenement dwellers and council tenants in Glasgow as it is for crofters and estate workers in the Western Isles.

Land Reform is a process, not a one-off project or consultation exercise and the Convention will bring a wide range of voluntary groups and organisations into this ongoing debate.

For the Scottish Trades Union Congress the arrival of the Scottish Parliament and the establishment of the Scottish Land Reform Convention are part of the same package - the deepening and widening of democracy in Scotland.

The land of Scotland, its uses and ownership, is not some romantic distraction. How our land - all of it, urban and rural, highland and lowland - is used is a matter of fundamental concern to Scotland's working people, and hence to the STUC. That is why we are involved in the SLRC, and looking forward to our continuing involvement.

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