In the Guardian today: Local communities, often in deprived neighbourhoods, are buying up derelict and unused property for village shops, play parks, community centres and, in one case, a film set for war movies, using buyout powers introduced by the Scottish parliament since its foundation in 1999. The land reform debate is often overshadowed by the buyouts of islands or totemic Highland estates. Yet those sales have ground to halt, partly due to competition from private buyers pursuing speculative investments using woodland and peat restoration as carbon sinks, which has sharply driven up land prices. Scottish government data shows that by … Continue reading Community by-out projects increase by nearly 800% after SNP boost but are stalled in Tory England