Scotland's Fourth Land Use Strategy: Fairer Scotland Duty assessment

Fairer Scotland Duty for the Fourth Land Use Strategy (LUS4)

Summary of aims and expected outcomes

The primary objective of LUS4 is to enhance knowledge, discussion and insight into the land use system and support and drive a collaborative and cohesive national environment that supports integrated land use discussion, planning and delivery. LUS4 will do this by seeking to help policy-makers and regulators understand the various objectives across the Scottish Government.

As LUS4 is intended to be a live and evolving document we will not look to set out every objective across the Scottish Government as a fixed position in the publication of this strategy. Instead the strategy document will set out shared outcomes from Scotland’s National Performance Strategy to create a platform that connects policies, priorities, and actions across the wider land use system. Specific actions will then be identified and taken forward as part of a two-phased approach to the strategy.

• Phase One – develop and publish a streamlined high-level strategic document (LUS4) setting out a new vision and objectives for integrated land use. It will set the strategic direction in order to support alignment across relevant policy areas.
• Phase Two – using the insights gleaned from our consultation and wider stakeholder engagement, develop and publish a delivery/work plan to drive integration across policy and practice (to be published within 12 months of the strategy document being published).

Summary of evidence

Responses to a written consultation and insights from a series of engagement workshops conducted during the consultation period highlighted a number of issues relating broadly to land use policy that may affect those from groups with socio-economic disadavantage. These include: limited access to land, funding, training, and decision-making; and risk of exclusion from benefits of land use change.

A recent Scottish Government Research report on rural poverty found that:

• while rural Scotland has, overall, experienced lower poverty rates than urban areas since 2010, significant and widening disparities in rates of poverty exist between rural, remote and island communities; and
• remote rural areas (including most Scottish islands) and remote small towns have experienced a marked and consistent, although temporary, increase in relative poverty after housing costs between 2012 and 2017, while rates in urban areas have remained broadly stable.

It identified that ‘these variations in poverty trends between geographical areas are likely to result from multiple intersecting factors related to changes in demographics, employment challenges, housing pressures, geopolitical changes and access to public services amongst others’. Of these, housing pressures are related to policy areas covered within LUS4 although the strategy will not directly impact this policy. Policies covered by LUS4 may also impact on the other intersecting factors identified in the research.

Summary of assessment findings

While the evidence highlights some issues that relate to areas that are broadly covered by the LUS4, at this stage in this work the level of detail in the LUS4 cannot identify specific aspects that have the potential to impact on inequalities of outcome because specific actions and outcomes will be developed during phase two.

These actions may be subject to their own Fairer Scotland Duty assessment to identify the specific impacts associated with the actions as opposed to the strategic approach presented in LUS4.

Therefore, following the Fairer Duty Assessment, no changes to LUS4 will be made at this stage but this position will be reviewed as specific actions and outcomes are identified.

Sign off

Name: Anna Densham

Job title: Deputy Director, Land Reform, Rural and Islands Policy

Date: 4 February 2026