SEBG News
Scottish Estates Welcome Right To Buy Announcement
17th December 2008The Scottish Estates Business Group, which represents progressive estates throughout Scotland, today (Wednesday) welcomed the Scottish Government’s announcement to rule out any extension of right to buy legislation on agricultural tenancies.
Sandy Lewis, deputy chairman of SEBG, said: “This is a very positive and encouraging announcement, in particular the acknowledgement that such a step could not be justified in terms of public benefit. The persistent debate on right to buy over the last six years seriously undermined confidence to let land. Richard Lochhead’s announcement today is a defining moment and certainly our members look forward to working with government to address all barriers that obstruct new entrants to farming.
“Today’s announcement will help restore confidence and is a very important step in reversing the decline in let land. However, other measures are required and these have been identified by the Tenant Farming Forum. There is a strong case for allowing greater flexibility for both tenants and landlords when it comes to agreeing tenancy arrangements. This should be addressed as a priority and we welcome the government’s constructive comments on this issue. We also support the commitment to monitor the uptake of new tenancies and the assurance that further action may be considered to deliver more long term letting of agricultural land.
“We agree with the Cabinet Secretary that the Tenant Farming Forum is ideally placed to bring forward proposals to the Scottish Government on tenancy issues and we are committed to working with the rest of the industry to find solutions.”
