Review of the Guidance on Engaging Communities in Decisions Relating to Land

3. How we undertook the review

To support the development of this report, we reviewed the effectiveness of the Guidance, gathering evidence from key stakeholders and through research, to examine developments in community engagement policy and practice.

To obtain views from key stakeholders we approached members of the Scottish Land Commission’s Good Practice Advisory Group (GPAG) and Scottish Enterprise Agencies. We asked them for feedback on awareness of the Guidance, its effectiveness and on any suggested improvements they felt could be made. We received five responses from stakeholders (referred to in this report as “Stakeholders” or “Stakeholder”):

• The Scottish Land Commission (the Commission)
• Scottish Land & Estates (SLE)
• National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS)
• Community Land Scotland (CLS)
• Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE)

The responses from SLE, CLS and NFUS drew on their work and their members’ experiences. HIE’s response was informed by their engagement with communities around land and asset ownership and through their delivery of the Scottish Land Fund (SLF). The Commission’s response drew on their research and Good Practice case work.

We also requested that researchers from the James Hutton Institute (Hutton) undertake research to inform this review of the Guidance. Their report compiled developments in policy, and changes in knowledge and advice on community engagement in decisions relating to land since the Guidance was reviewed in 2021. Their report was published in March 2026 – The James Hutton Institute - Reviewing guidance on engaging communities in decisions relating to land (“the Hutton research”).

As part of the Hutton research, they reviewed published evidence and other literature (such as research reports, official publications, documents produced by businesses and academics, and evaluations). They also conducted interviews with community engagement practitioners and representatives of relevant Scottish land organisations from the private sector, community, and third sector, as well as academics with research experience relating to community engagement. This work allowed us to consider the Guidance in the context of the wider policy and practice landscape around community engagement.

Alongside this external evidence, we carried out a light touch review within the Scottish Government, examining how community engagement is applied across some of the policy areas that involve decisions about land, such as Community Right to Buy, compulsory purchase orders, land use policy and natural capital. This helped us understand the influence of the Guidance and how effectively it supports consistent engagement practice.