Scotland's Land Use Strategy: annual progress report – 2025-2026

Actions taken towards sustainable land use between April 2025 and March 2026

Legislation and Policy update

Land Reform Act

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 received Royal Assent in December 2025.

It will place legal responsibilities on the owners of the very largest landholdings to set out how they use their land and how that contributes to key public policy priorities like addressing climate change, and protecting and restoring nature.

It will also prohibit certain sales of land of over 1000 hectares until ministers can consider the impact on the local community. This could lead to some landholdings being lotted into smaller parts if that may help local communities.

The Act grants greater protections for tenant farmers and small landholders, and safeguards fair compensation should they be removed from their holding. It also modernises how new small landholdings are created and operate, protecting their rights and helping new entrants and the next generation of farmers to access land.

Supports: All landscapes

Natural Environment Act

The Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 received Royal Assent in March 2026. The Act places a duty on ministers to set legally binding targets to help halt and reverse nature decline, with one in nine species in Scotland currently under threat of extinction.

In addition, the Act contains provisions to:

• modernise the aims of national parks and the powers of national park authorities
• reform the way deer are managed - helping to restore ecosystems while supporting a sustainable venison supply chain that benefits rural communities
• give ministers new powers to develop legislation relating to sustainable forestry management and protected sites

Supports: All landscapes

Crofting and Scottish Land Court Act 2026

The Crofting and Scottish Land Court (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament in March 2026 and became an Act upon receiving Royal Assent in May. It introduces a new process for fast-tracking the transfer of a croft between family members, strengthens the role of grazing committees sharing common land, halts the separation of crofts and grazing shares except with Commission consent, and gives crofters a greater say in how the land they work on is used.

It streamlines the Crofting Commission’s duties and enforcement processes, and gives it new powers to protect croft land. The Act also commits Scottish Ministers to begin a review of wider crofting legislation in the next three years. It will bring in new powers which could be used to regulate the transfer of owner-occupier crofter status, bringing processes in line with requirements for tenant crofters.

The Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland will be amalgamated to create one cohesive body, the Scottish Land Court, retaining the identity and distinctive nature of the Scottish Land Court, including the statutory requirement for a Gaelic speaking member.

Supports: Semi-natural land and Enclosed farmland

Community Rights to Buy Review

In March, we published the final review of community rights to buy following an earlier public consultation. This review completes the four-phase process undertaken to review all the existing community rights to buy introduced since 2003:

• community right to buy
• crofting community right to buy
• community right to buy abandoned, neglected or detrimental land
• right to buy land to further sustainable development

Supports: All landscapes

Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture

The Code of Practice on Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture (the Code) was published in March 2026. The Code provides guidance, principles and practical examples of what represents sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices that can be adopted on a farm or croft. It will guide farmers and crofters to follow industry best practice to deliver the aims of the Vision for Agriculture.

The Code recognises that many farmers and crofters throughout Scotland are already adopting numerous sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices. The Code does not seek to replace those existing practices but offers some suggestions that could contribute to efficiencies, profitability, climate, biodiversity and sustainability targets. The Code aims to ensure a balance between producing food and doing so in a sustainable way, by farming with nature to provide triple wins on climate, biodiversity and farm profitability.

Supports: All landscapes

Rural Support Plan

The Rural Support Plan (RSP) covers a five-year period (2026-2031) and was published in March 2026. The RSP launches the Future Support Framework consisting of four tiers through which support will be delivered: Base, Enhanced, Elective and Complementary. In the near term, existing EU CAP legacy support schemes will transition to the new four-tier framework. This support will enable farmers and crofters to undertake actions which will deliver towards the key objectives of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024, which are:

• the adoption and use of sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices
• the production of high-quality food
• the promotion and support of agricultural practices that protect and improve animal health and welfare
• the facilitation of on-farm nature restoration, climate mitigation and adaptation
• enabling rural communities to thrive

Supports: All landscapes

Regional Land Use Partnerships (RLUPs)

The RLUPs pilot concluded in 2024. Following the experiences of this pilot, the Scottish Government has committed to transitioning four of the pilot RLUPs to a formal initiative. Through this transitional period the partnerships can continue to develop organically whilst allowing for the further development of our understanding of how partnership working can help to optimise land use in a fair and inclusive way, meeting local and national objectives and supporting Scotland’s just transition to net-zero.

Officials are working closely with the RLUPs to consolidate learning and refine our understanding of the role that they could play in supporting and delivering land use change, and informing wider Scottish Government policy.

The Scottish Government is focused on supporting the RLUPs to build on their identification of regional priorities and opportunities, and further develop the local partnerships and plans which can deliver these opportunities.

Supports: All landscapes