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Case Studies
Affric Highlands – Trees for Life
The Affric Highlands project, led by Trees for Life, is bringing together landowners and communities from across the central Highlands to support nature, people, and businesses, and create a more progressive and sustainable local economy.
An adventure playground for Possilpark – Concrete Garden
Concrete Garden was established in 2013 from a community growing project which transformed a small vacant and derelict site in Possilpark.
Anderston Regeneration Project
The Anderston regeneration project demonstrates the importance of an active land policy, masterplanning, intensive community engagement, and public sector funding for site assembly and delivery.
Anna's Hoeve, Hilversum, The Netherlands
In this case study of Anna's Hoeve, in Hilversum, the Netherlands , we explore the capacity of Dutch planning to integrate placemaking into the delivery of new housing.
Ardura Community Forest
Mull & Iona Community Trust (MICT) undertook a community asset transfer to acquire a publicly owned timber plantation on Mull with funds from the Scottish Land Fund.
Aultnaskiach Dell Community Woodland
The owners of Aultnaskiach Dell wanted to safeguard the woods from potential development so asked locals if there was interest in a community buyout.
Bahnhof Heubruch, Wuppertal, Germany
The Bahnhof Heubruch development in Wuppertal, Germany explores how planning helps a German city develop a high-quality residential project with affordable housing in a less prosperous economic context.
Balcaskie Estate: Creating livelihood opportunities
Balcaskie Estate in Fife recognises the importance of creating a more diverse pattern of land ownership and tenure and is committed to ‘diversity of opportunity’.
Baltic Street Adventure Playground, Glasgow
Creating a safe outdoor play space for children in one of Scotland’s most deprived areas, an arts and architecture-led project created the Baltic Street Adventure Playground.
Bertha Park - Collaboration in masterplanning
Bertha Park demonstrates the importance of collaboration and masterplanning, and upfront finance for infrastructure to unlock development land.
Buccleuch Langholm Moor Sale – Creating opportunities through community engagement
Through the process of identifying land that could be sold, Buccleuch became increasingly aware of the impact land-use decisions can have on nearby communities.
Bunloit and Beldorney Estates – Highlands Rewilding
The Bunloit Estate in the Highlands and the Beldorney Estate in Aberdeenshire are looking at how land can be managed in new ways, using innovative investment, to deliver benefits for the environment and for local communities.
Canal and North Gateway, Glasgow
Scottish Canals and NatureScot transforming the land around the canal corridor between Firhill and Port Dundas
Carluke High Mill & Community Growing & Learning Garden – Carluke Development Trust
Carluke community recognised the potential of Caruke High Mill which has been derelict for more than 20 years.
Castle Gardens, Pencaitland
Castle Gardens demonstrates the importance of maintaining an up-to-date development plan and offers insights into the role of land promoters in place promotion and risk sharing.
Community Engagement at Glen Dye Moor
At Glen Dye Moor, forestry investors have brought together a delivery team that is committed to achieving good practice in community engagement alongside good stewardship of land, as well as delivering further community benefits.
Culduthel Community Woods
Culduthel Woods Group is undergoing the legal process of acquiring the ownership of currently ownerless woodland in Inverness.
Dargavel, Renfrewshire
The Dargavel development demonstrates the importance of collaboration, masterplanning and upfront finance for infrastructure to unlock development land.
Examples of the eligibility of items that might be included under the Amnesty
Examples of the eligibility of items that might be included under the Amnesty
Former Police Box Active Travel Hub – Vale of Leven Trust
An Active Travel Hub, set up in a former police box, providing equipment and skills to help locals gain more confidence to travel more actively.
Glasgow Commonwealth Games Village – a lasting legacy
The Glasgow Commonwealth Games Village demonstrates how a public interest led development approach and wider regenerational activities can shape a new market and place where none existed before.
Highland Council – Inverness City Living
Highland Council has devised an ambitious strategy for Inverness city centre, aiming to make it an area where people live and work, with green space and active travel routes.
Holm Hill – a new dawn for Newcastleton
The negotiated sale of 750 acres of land known as Holm Hill from Buccleuch’s Borders Estate to the Newcastleton and District Community Trust (NDCT) marks an exciting future for this community in the South of Scotland.
Issues with Inalienability: Portobello High School
The City of Edinburgh Council proposed to use Portobello Park as the site for the new Portobello High School. However the land was not designated as a possible site for a new school.
L’Arche de La Nature: A forest for the many
The L’Arche de la Nature municipal forest in Le Mans, France has parallels for community forestry in Scotland.
Land Management Planning – Scone Estates
This case study explores the approach taken to land management planning by Scone Estates.
Land Management Planning – Ardtornish
This case study explores the approach taken to land management planning by Ardtornish estate in Morvern, Lochaber.
Land Management Planning – Buccleuch Estates
This case study explores the approach taken to land management planning by Buccleuch Estates.
Land Management Planning – Crown Estate Scotland
This case study explores the approach taken to land management planning by Crown Estate Scotland.
Land Management Planning – JAHAMA Highland Estates
This case study explores the approach taken to land management planning by JAHAMA Highland Estates.
Land Management Planning – Loch Arkaig Pine Forest
This case study explores the approach taken to land management planning at Loch Arkaig Pine Forest.
Land Management Planning – Urras Oighreacht Ghabhsainn (Galson Estate Trust)
This case study explores the approach taken to land management planning by Urras Oighreacht Ghabhsainn (Galson Estate Trust) in Lewis.
Land Management Planning: John Muir Trust
This case study at the Trust's new Strategic Plan and how it balances priorities.
Natural Course
Natural Course is a nine-year EU LIFE Integrated Project based in northwest England that is a collaboration between public, private and third sector organisations funded by EU grant and match funding.
Queens Park Recreation Ground, Crosshill, Glasgow
South Seeds aims to create a socially engaging sustainable hub within Govanhill - one of the most densely populated and deprived areas in Scotland.
Raining Stairs, Inverness
Redevelopment of derelict land brings affordable housing back into Inverness city centre
Re-use Hub in a long-term vacant building - New Cumnock Development Trust
New Cumnock Development Trust plan to bring an empty town centre building back into use as a viable social enterprise.
RSPB Insh Marshes Nature Reserve
A long-term vision is being developed to transform RSPB Insh Marshes into a prime example of a better-connected floodplain and less modified river system
Savills involvement in Community Engagement
Savills established a way to work with land owners and managers, new to the concepts and processes around engagement, to deliver it effectively making use of the Commission's Protocols and Route Map.
Shettleston Growing Project
Shettleston Growing Project have used reclaimed contaminated land to provide an urban garden for the community
Sleat Community Trust
Sleat Community Trust (SCT) on the Isle of Skye purchased forest from Forestry Commission Scotland with a mixture of income from the local community, grant and loan funding.
Thorlux
Thorlux, a manufacturer of industrial and commercial lighting, purchased land to afforest for carbon offsetting purposes in Devauden, Monmouthshire, Wales.
Threave Nature Reserve
The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) owns Threave Nature Reserve, a former dairy farm, and manages the land in partnership with Galloway Glens Partnership Scheme (GGLP), a coalition of multiple local and specialist organisations.
Trees for Life
Trees for Life is an environmental charity which owns and manages Dundreggan Estate in Glenmoriston. Its vision is for revitalised wild forestry in the Highlands of Scotland, providing space for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive.
West Harris Trust
The West Harris Trust was formed in 2008 to purchase three crofting estates belonging to the Scottish Government.
Wishawhill Wood Pump Track, Wishaw
Creating a world-class community facility on a vacant and derelict site providing a place where young people are welcome and are free to learn new biking skills
Applecross Community Land Use Plan
Significant local housing needs in Applecross have created a collaborative process engaging the community landowner, local authority, and public agencies to identify housing sites through a Community Land Use Plan.
Countesswells, Aberdeen: a structure for community liaison
In the Countesswells development, the communities' liaison group became a proactive participant in the development and design process.
Findrassie Master-planned Neighbourhood, Elgin
For the Findrassie master-planned development, Pitgaveny Estate has taken a longer-term, strategic approach to create a new neighbourhood in collaboration with the community, Moray Council and other key stakeholders.
France – Municipal management of collective ownership structures
In France, there is a core distinction between forest land and ‘other’ land (i.e. rural lands, farm land, etc.) which dates back to the French Revolution. In 2001, a new ‘Forest Law’ was passed in France, which introduced the expectation of forest owners to implement multifunctional forest plans, including responsibilities for providing access and environmental protection.
Dalmarnock: a masterplanning approach
Clyde Gateway is a public urban regeneration agency in Glasgow’s east end and Rutherglen, which worked on the South Dalmarnock Integrated Urban Infrastructure Framework masterplan to unlock development opportunities in an area of significant post-industrial decline and dereliction.
East Lothian – An area-based study of a higher value and less affordable market
East Lothian Rural Voice was set up by rural stakeholders, including landowners and managers, to look for a partnership way forward with East Lothian Council for more investment in the countryside.
Germany – Municipal landownership and administration
The non-profit sector has a long tradition in Germany and it takes on greater significance for society, politics and economy than in many other countries. More recently, there has been growing concern about the need to change how public land is owned and administered, particularly in the current context of high demand for land and affordable housing in urban areas.
Timber Eiggxport
Community landowners Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust have worked with Scottish Forestry to design a Forest Plan which includes a phased programme of harvesting over 20 years to make sustainable use of the forest.
Doune Ponds – Managing the Land in Partnership: Moray Estates and Doune Community Woodland Group
A former gravel and sand quarry, Doune Ponds is a 40-acre Local Nature Reserve owned by Moray Estates and managed in partnership with Doune Community Woodland Group (DCWG) since 2014.
Dumfries Neighbourhood Street Design: Community empowerment
The Dumfries Neighbourhood Street Design project – led by Sustrans Scotland with Dumfries & Galloway Council and the community – transformed a once-neglected part of Dumfries town centre into a more liveable, inclusive and active travel-friendly neighbourhood through a collaborative design process.
Mexico – Communal agrarian tenure (Ejido system)
Mexico has a long history of development of policies with regards to land tenure. One example is ejidos, now effectively a form of social and private property that contain a mix of individually parcelled land (made possible by the 1992 reform) and some land which is held and used communally.
Orkney & Islands – An area-based study of a diverse rural area
The challenges of housing delivery in Orkney are not necessarily unique compared to other rural areas but can be magnified by the island setting.
Timber Transport Forum – Developing consultation and engagement guidance
The Timber Transport Forum was one of the first sectors to develop its own guidance on engaging communities in decisions relating to land, as recommended by Scottish Government.
Fort William 2040: better proposals, better outcomes
Wider community engagement on placemaking as part of the Fort William 2040 project coincided with engagement on a particularly significant development for the Fort William community.
Norway – Municipal ownership and commonage
The history of common landownership and governance in Norway is extensive and predates legal structures, but it is considered to have fostered a ‘co-owner’ agrarian system and society.
Rothiemurchus – A cross subsidy model
The Rothiemurchus Estate has worked with four local families and the Highland Small Communities Housing Trust (HSCHT) to develop a no subsidy housing model on the brownfield site.
Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn – Galson Estate Trust
Established in 2007 to manage the Galson Estate on the Isle of Lewis for and on behalf of the community.
Cumbernauld Living Landscapes Partnership – Natural Connections
A living landscape partnership approach to bring different landowners together to develop volunteer-led conservation
Glentress: Paving the way for planning consent
Glentress Forest is one of a number of forests in the Tweed Valley managed by Forestry and Land Scotland. It is at the forefront of their plans to ensure that important forest resources continue to be accessible to the public & offer a range of activities.
Village Farm Site, Tarland
The landowner, the MacRobert Trust, and the Tarland Community Housing project team have been working in partnership to unlock this stalled site.
East Neuk Community Action Plan
East Neuk Community Action Plan is an aspirational initiative to develop a long term vision and strategy for East Neuk area of Fife
Inverkeithing: Building quality, trust and community
Kingdom Housing Association’s highly praised phased regeneration project in Inverkeithing has engaged tenants and local residents in the design and decision-making process.
Killearn: three-way consultation
Although consultation was not a requirement for the Killearn housing development, the developer ensured that the local community was given the opportunity to positively influence the design.
Winchburgh: building long term community relationships
The Winchburgh project is a substantial extension to a small existing settlement in West Lothian where the lead developer has put great emphasis on community engagement.
Coimisean Fearainn na h-Alba
An Lòchran
10 Inverness Campus
Inverness
IV2 5NA
info@landcommission.gov.scot
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