Seòmar agus comataidhean

Rhoda Grant will get her moment now. She has waited very patiently.

Magnus’s hand is up, as is Andy’s. Rhoda, if you do not mind, we will go to Magnus first and then to Andy.

Okay. We come to the deputy convener.

That is hypothetical, of course, because I do not own more than 1,000 hectares of land, and I do not think that I am likely to, as I have a small family farm. Magnus, do you have a view?

I had some niche questions for Andy Wightman on part 2 of the bill but given that we have all agreed where we are at this stage of the bill and what should happen to it, I will end the evidence on that note of consensus.

I thank all the witnesses for their time this morning and for being succinct in some of their answers and not in others, which has given us a fuller understanding.

We are just sorting that out—and I see that Magnus Linklater is now back.

That local place plans are fundamental as far as management plans are concerned. If the community say that they want to build additional houses next to their village, that should be included within the management plan, and perhaps the management plan for what happens upstream, 10 miles away, is not really that relevant.

I ask Magnus Linklater whether he wants to come in on that, because he is the only witness who has not been given that opportunity.

You do not think that it is right that every—

Our second item of business is an evidence session on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. Today, the committee will hear from a panel of commentators and researchers with an interest in land reform. The main focus today is on part 1 of the bill.

I am pleased to welcome Magnus Linklater, a journalist, who is joining us online; Laurie Macfarlane, co-director of the think tank Future Economy Scotland; Peter Peacock, formerly an MSP and minister here, former leader of the Highland Council and also formerly a policy director at Community Land Scotland; and Andy Wightman, formerly an MSP and now a researcher—I think that you are more than a researcher—for the Who Owns Scotland project. Thanks for accepting the invitation to be here.

I am pleased to also welcome Rhoda Grant, who will have a chance to ask some questions at the end.

As I have done in every session, before I start, I remind members that I have an interest in a family farming partnership in Moray, as set out in my entry in the register of members’ interests. Specifically, I declare an interest in approximately 500 acres of farmland, of which 50 acres are woodland. I am also a tenant of approximately 500 acres in Moray under a non-agricultural tenancy arrangement, and I have another farming tenancy under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991. I also occasionally take on annual grass lets.

We will move straight to questions. My first question is a warm-up question for all the witnesses. We seem to go through land reform bills every 10 years or so. Is this bill needed, and will it achieve what it sets out to achieve? We will start with Andy Wightman.