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

Closes 26 Jan 2027

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Community Engagement Obligations: Land Management Plans - required content

The below questions focus on how the requirements for LMPs that are set out in the Act should be met.

Details of the land

Requirement in the Act

The Act requires a landowner to provide “details of the land covered by the landholding, including how the ownership of that land is structured”.

What we propose

Ownership information

We propose that the LMP should clearly identify the land that it covers and explain the ownership arrangements for that land.

If the land is owned by a non-natural person (i.e. a corporation, trust or other entity) or the registered owner is not up to date/inaccurate, Companies House or the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (“RCI”) may hold information on who has significant influence or control over the registered owner. This information is publicly accessible and held online.

We are interested in views on whether LMPs should link to information held in these transparency registers, and whether they should include contact details. 

Details of the land

We propose that LMPs should include a map of the landholding, and are seeking views on the appropriate format, scale and accessibility. 

Information about tenanted land

Where landowners have leased the land to tenants (including croft land), landowners may have reduced or no management control. Consequently the landowner may not know certain information related to that land. Tenants, including crofters, are not required by the 2025 Act to share information with the landowner. Therefore, landowners will not be required to share information on tenanted or crofted land which relates to the use of land. However, we intend to encourage the sharing of information where it is possible and relationships allow through guidance.

Showing complicance with other codes

The 2025 Act requires the landowner to set out in their LMP how they are complying with or intend to comply with:

Emissions, Climate Change and Biodiversity 

Landowners will also be required to set out in their LMP how they are managing or plan to manage the land in a way that contributes towards:

15. Should the owner be required to provide the name or names of the persons or entities (such as a company) that own the land?
16. Where the land is owned by a non-natural person, should the landowner be required to provide a link to any information held by Companies House or entries in the RCI in relation to the landowner?

Companies House is a register of company information. RCI is a register of people and organisations that own land (or have a lease of over 20 years) in Scotland and there is someone else who has significant influence or control over their decisions about that land.

17. Should the LMP include contact details for an person who is responsible for the management of the landholding?
18. Should the landowner have to provide a map of the landholding (or maps, for example where the plan covers multiple landholdings)?
19. Should the map provided for a LMP be of the same quality required for registration on the Land Register?

Quality of map needed for registration on the Land Register

This would typically mean than plan needed to be produced to a scale of 1:2,500 for land in rural areas or 1:10,000 for mountain/moorland areas. Further detail on the quality of map needed for registration on the Land Register can be found at: Deed plan criteria - RoS Knowledge Base

20. Should maps be prepared to scale, which correspond to a scale used by recognised maps such as Ordnance Survey maps?
21. What is important to include in requirements for a map to make it accessible, so that people can understand the map?
22. What information should be included on a map and why?

Possible information to be included

Information about the management of landholding could be presented on the map, where appropriate, or provided alongside the map. This could include information about the principal land uses, or where there are rights over land.

23. Do you agree with our proposed approach to tenanted land?
24. What information should landowners be encouraged to share about tenanted and/or croft land and why?
25. What information should a landowner provide to demonstrate how they are complying or intend to comply with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code?
26. What information should a landowner provide to demonstrate how they are complying or intend to comply with the code of practice on deer management?
27. Is there any other information which would not be included in a deer management plan which should be included in the LMP to meet the requirement to set out how the landowner is complying or intends to comply with the code of practice on deer management?
28. What information should a landowner set out to demonstrate that they are managing or plan to manage the land in a way that contributes towards meeting the national net-zero emissions targets?
29. What information should a landowner set out to demonstrate that they are managing or plan to manage the land in a way that contributes towards adapting to climate change?

For example, to support the prevention of wildfires, manage potential flood risk, or restore peatland.

30. What information should a landowner set out to demonstrate that they are managing or plan to manage the land in a way that contributes towards increasing biodiversity?

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the diversity of species, genetic variations within species, and ecosystems. Our economy, jobs, health and wellbeing depend on it and it plays a vital role addressing and mitigating the impact of climate change.