Communities take charge in Scotland's land reform 'revolution'

Edinburgh

ON A two acre (0.8 hectare) patch of land in north Edinburgh's Leith neighbourhood, Evie Murray walks with pride between plots of carefully tended flowers and vegetables. "This area used to be used by drug addicts or prostitutes," she said. "It was full of rubbish: syringes, condom wrappers." This is "Crops in Pots", a community initiative in the Scottish capital which has seen hundreds of local residents planting marrows, potatoes, beans, chard, apples, gooseberries, and even a walnut tree.

It is one example of a quiet but significant wave of land reform that is changing the dynamic of property ownership in Scotland.

Scotland has the least equitable property ownership in western Euro…