Current progress

Scottish Outdoor Access Code
consultation period
Advice on responding
MCofS consultation response (pdf)

The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill
first impressions
MCofS evidence
Supplementary Evidence
Reaction to Committee Report

Is Trespass Illegal in Scotland ?
Commercial Activities in the Hills?
Needs of the people, not just Skibo's guests
Access to Balmoral Estate secured
Threat to night time access
Confusion on Outdoor Education

Passing of Bill welcomed
What happens now?
Royal Assent given to Act

Previous events

Draft Land Reform (Scotland) Bill -
Consultation Paper
MCofS response
Petition taken to Parliament

With the new session of Parliament having started, progress in the passage of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is continuing. The bill is now going through stage 2 procedure, where the lead committee, Justice 2, are examining the amendments that have been proposed following the stage 1 debate.

One of the provisions in the bill as introduced, which we criticised, was section 6(e), which proposed that access rights should not be exercisable over land held by the Queen in her private capacity. In our written evidence to the Committee we pointed out that this could be taken as prohibiting access to the whole of the Balmoral Estate, including mountains such as Lochnagar.

At the Justice 2 committee meeting on September 11, Dennis Canavan MSP (Independent) proposed an amendment that this subsection be deleted. He suggested that the section was not necessary to ensure the security of the Queen while in residence at Balmoral Castle.

Providing the viewpoint of the Executive, the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Allan Wilson, declared support for the amendment. He confirmed that Balmoral Estate is the only place in Scotland that would be affected by this subsection, and that it had never been intended to restrict access to the estate as a whole. He also said that the Palace agreed that access rights should be exercisable over the land, there being sufficient other legislation to cover security concerns.

The only dissenting voice Bill Aitken (Conservative) accepted this assurance and the amendment was agreed unanimously; so hopefully we've heard the last of the suggestion.

The amendment phase of the bill is continuing, with the Justice 2 Committee holding weekly meetings to get through the business. Stage 2 meetings are expected to be completed by the end of October and the stage 3 debate, which takes place in the main chamber of the Parliament, is likely to be some time in November. As always, such timings are liable to slippage and the stage 3 debate could easily fall into December.

The original Bill as introduced, list of amendments and full transcripts of the Parliamentary meetings can be obtained from the Parliament website, and are indexed for easy access on our Bill diary page.

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill