Community Engagement Obligations and draft large land holdings guidance under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025

This section asks questions about what (if any) additional information should be required to be included in LMPs, in addition to those set out in the Act.

The content of LMPs needs to be proportionate, providing the information needed to promote community engagement while considering the impact on the landowner of collating and presenting that information. 

During the development of the Bill, a range of views were expressed from stakeholders on what should and shouldn’t be included in a LMP. Suggestions of what should be in a LMP included:

• Plans for the management of natural capital. Natural capital is a term for the habitats and ecosystems that provide social, environmental and economic benefits to humans, such as forestry or peatland.
• Information related to biodiversity and nature restoration. LMPs already require owners to set out how they are managing or intend to manage the land in a way that contributes towards increasing biodiversity.
• Information about the ownership and management of land to inform and support responses to wildfire outbreaks and the management of wildfire risk.
• How the landowner’s plans contribute to community wealth building. Community wealth building is a type of economic development that aims to enable local communities and people to own, have a greater stake in, access and benefit from the wealth our economy generates.
• How the landowner’s plans support community sustainability and development, for example through supporting provision of housing to meet local needs, space for businesses or employment opportunities.
• How the management of the land aligns with human rights (incl. economic, social and cultural rights).
• The socio-economic and environmental impacts of the LMP.
• If the landholding is receiving any public funding or subsidies in relation to the management of the land (for example, funding for forestry, peatland restoration or agricultural payments).

These were suggestions, but there may be other information which has not been previously suggested which should also be considered. These could include:

• How the landowner is managing the land in a way that meets the principles of the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement.
• Where the all or part of the land holding is within a National Park, how the management of the land has regard to the National Park Partnership Plan.
• Links to or a note of other plans relevant to land management that cover at least part of the land holding. For example, this could include regional land use partnership plans or river basin management plans.

LMPs are intended to provide high-level information about the planned management of the landholding. The level of detail on each of the proposed topics should be proportionate to the community's interest raised through engagement. In any case, LMPs would not be expected to include detailed, technical management information about a landholding such as would be required for a business case or grant scheme. Their purpose is to promote community engagement and understanding.