More than 500,000 acres of land in Scotland now under community ownership

Communities in Scotland own more than 500,000 acres of land, according to new statistics released by the Scottish Government.

The first estimate of community owned land in Scotland, the publication presents the area of land in community ownership, the number of land parcels/assets in community ownership and the number of community groups that own land parcels/assets.

It has estimated that 562,230 acres (227,526ha) of land in Scotland is now in community ownership, 2.9% of the total land area of the country. There were 492 land parcels/assets in community ownership owned by 403 community groups.

The publication will track progress towards the Scottish Government target to have one million acres of land in Scotland in community ownership by the end of 2020.

In the first six months of 2017, six additional land parcels/assets came into community ownership, bringing an additional 94.23 acres being in community ownership.

An additional 437,770 acres has to come into community ownership to achieve the target of having one million acres of land in community ownership by the end of 2020.

Community groups who own land parcels/assets are widespread across Scotland. Although the area of land in community ownership, is concentrated in two Local Authorities: Highland and Na h‑Eileanan Siar. Na h-Eileanan Siar contains 385,340 acres of land in community ownership and Highland contains 141,912 acres. This equates to 93.7% (527,252 acres) of the total land in community ownership in Scotland.