Scotland's Fourth Land Use Strategy: islands communities impact assessment

1. Aims and objectives

The LUS4 will contain the following vision: ‘Scotland’s national landscape is integrated and resilient, supporting the diverse needs of a net zero, nature-positive, wellbeing economy.’

This vision reflects the ambition to manage land in a way that balances environmental, economic and social priorities, while recognising the interconnectedness of land use decisions.

The primary objective of the 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.

As the LUS4 is intended to be a live and evolving document we will not 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 aligned with those of Scotland’s National Performance Framework 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. Its aims will be to 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 (expected to be published within 12 months of the strategy document being published).

Do you need to consult?

A consultation took place between August and October 2025, on proposals for LUS4, which sought views, suggestions and information on issues relating to land use which may have an impact on island communities.

During the consultation period we also ran a further nine online and in person events/meetings which reached more than 70 stakeholders from organisations such as the Rural Leaders Group, Scottish Environment Link, the Crofting Federation, Scotland Rural Mental Health Forum and the Scottish Islands Federation. These highlighted specific issues that may have a particular impact or relevance to island communities. In particular the Scottish Islands Federation expressed a willingness to support the impact assessment process and we plan to engage them as we develop the assessment further during Phase 2.

How are islands identified for the purpose of the policy, strategy or service?

The statutory definition from the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018.

What are the intended impacts/outcomes and how do these potentially differ in the islands?

As set out above, the primary objective of the 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. The strategy will do this by seeking to help policy-makers and regulators understand the various objectives across the SG.

Specific outcomes will be identified within the delivery plan which will follow the publication of the LUS4. These will either specifically address particular issues relating to islands or will have taken account of them in development.

The impacts and outcomes will differ insofar as the geographical and economic factors affecting land use will manifest differently in some islands. These differences will occur throughout Scotland as landscapes vary and the particular circumstances of land use vary. This means that we do not expect to impact islands collectively or individually differently from the mainland as a whole but that the strategy will have different impacts in different places, including islands.

Our consultation and engagement identified that the regional scale or catchment level was seen as having the most potential for integrating data and policy decisions and supporting delivery on the ground. A number of stakeholders emphasised the need for regional and place-based approaches to translate national strategy into local action. National-scale strategies were viewed as too abstract to reconcile complex trade-offs effectively at a place-based level with the potential role for RLUPs highlighted. This feedback will inform the development of the LUS4 Delivery Plan which will consider how to enable sufficient flexibility to take account of local circumstances and characteristics to ensure that the aims of the LUS4 can be achieved in a way that minimises adverse impacts on island communities.

Is the policy, strategy or service new?

No, it is a development of previous strategies. Its focus is strategic alignment and co-ordination of existing policies and it does not (in Phase One) set out any new policy interventions.