Scotland has just passed landmark legislation that introduces new standards of transparency, community benefit, and environmental accountability for large landholders.
The new land management requirements that will be introduced by the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill align with what we’ve been building at Oxygen Conservation since day one: that responsible, transparent, nature-positive ownership isn’t just advantageous anymore. It’s the benchmark.
For years, we’ve argued that conservation must be scalable, measurable, and investable. That the only way to make protecting the planet more profitable than destroying it is to link management to outcomes. Now, Scotland has written that principle into law.
As our Chairman, Benny Higgins, wrote previously in the Times, “It has become all too easy to cast large estates in a light that is far from modern reality: that rural estates are relics from a bygone age. As chairman of Buccleuch [and Oxygen Conservation], I oversee a business, not in substance unlike other businesses I have managed, that sets out to support jobs that are essential to families, focuses on our communities and understands the needs of our environment. We must not allow dated characterisations of the world of estate management to misinform decision-making. The world has moved on.”
Adapting to Lead
Let’s be clear: this Bill will change how large rural estates are structured, managed, and sold. For some, that will be uncomfortable. It challenges inherited models and invites scrutiny that not everyone will welcome. It slows the market, makes land transactions more costly and complex, and potentially creates a barrier to future private investment into rural Scotland.
We may not agree with some of the principles behind the Bill nor the way it has been drafted, however it represents an important step forward for those of us who believe in transparency, accountability, and long-term impact.
Mandatory land management plans? We already publish story maps which share as much as we can with regard to what we do and hope to do. Community engagement? It’s central to our projects, not a compliance exercise, and we’ve been praised for our approach. Biodiversity and climate commitments? They’re literally the purpose of our work.
Rather than seeing it as a compliance burden or a transactional constraint, perhaps it’s an opportunity to recognise that large-scale landholdings are, in truth, part of our national infrastructure: critical assets that underpin climate stability, energy security, flood resilience, and community wellbeing. In that sense, Oxygen Conservation’s land isn’t so different from the energy grid or our transport networks: essential systems that demand stewardship, performance standards, and public-interest accountability.
We regulate energy and water because society can’t function without them, yet we’ve left land, the foundation of every other system, largely unregulated. This Bill could help resolve that paradox. That’s a philosophy we can engage as proud infrastructure operators managing essential natural systems on behalf of the nation, transparently, responsibly, and with measurable public benefit.
Regulating Opportunity
Where others see complication, we see opportunity.
The Bill requires ‘large’ landowners (1,000 hectares / 2,471 acres in a single holding or two or more single holdings within 250m of each other) to publish land management plans with clear environmental outcomes (including how the owner intends to manage the land to adapt to climate change and increase biodiversity) and the steps taken by the owner to engage with communities in relation to the development of the plan. For us, that’s an open invitation to continue showcasing what modern conservation investment looks like – to prove that responsible ownership can deliver measurable natural capital outcomes: carbon storage, biodiversity uplift, clean water, green jobs, and homes for people in rural communities.
There’s also a deeper, structural truth. The new land management reforms effectively reward those who already operate with scale, data, and transparency. Regulation now demands evidence and alignment – and few can prove it. We can. We already have.
Oxygen Conservation’s 50,000+ acre portfolio is likely the only one of its type and scale in the UK. The portfolio we have built with both care and speed in equal measure – combining land, carbon, biodiversity, renewable energy, built property and regenerative agriculture can’t be replicated with the passing of this new legislation. For some, this is a key reason why the Bill was necessary. For us, its consequence is to reward us for recognising the natural capital opportunity in Scotland early and investing to make it a reality. Whilst we would want to see many more high-integrity, nature-based carbon projects brought forward in Scotland – they are badly needed – the impact of the Bill is our premium credits will be even more distinctive.
From Perceived Privilege to Purpose
For too long, land reform debates have been framed as a battle between privilege and power, between “owners” and “communities.” That debate is fundamentally flawed, and everyone loses if that continues. What Scotland is now offering is a new social contract of ownership – one where land serves people, nature, and the economy collectively, not one at the expense of the other.
In many ways this legislation was foreshadowed by Benny when he wrote the following, “One can only hope that ministers pursue land reform legislation that serves communities rather than gratuitously punishing landowners. We must acknowledge that landowners have embraced change over the last few decades and are heavily involved in stimulating growth in rural areas.”
That’s the philosophy Oxygen Conservation was founded on. Every acre we own is a platform for environmental improvement, community connection, and long-term value creation. Ownership, in our model, is stewardship with structure. Capital with conscience.
We often talk about “rewilding wealth,” taking capital that was once extractive and turning it into something regenerative. We hope this Bill will enable that on a national scale.
The Future of Land Ownership
The passing of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is historic.
It will undoubtedly lead to inertia, confusion, and bureaucratic challenges. However in the years to come, the investors who succeed will be those who embraced reform early. The landowners who thrive will be those who invite communities in, not keep them out. And the organisations that lead will be those that combine purpose with performance – proving that doing good and doing well are not competing ideas, but complementary ones.
That’s the future Oxygen Conservation was built for.
Making It Work for Scotland: Our Twelve Asks
To ensure the Bill delivers the best possible outcomes for Scotland’s economy and environment, we believe these actions are essential:
Policy Clarity
- Act quickly and simply – implement with urgency and clarity to prevent market stagnation.
- Guarantee long-term policy stability so investors and landowners can plan with confidence.
- Meaningfully consult with landowners in the same spirit and manner that the Bill expects of landowners when engaging with local communities.
- Protect nature restoration and ensure the Bill does not slow or hamper the urgency of our response to the climate or biodiversity crises.
Investment Confidence
- Underwrite the value of premium carbon credits to stabilise pricing and incentivise integrity.
- Mandate the polluter pays principle through nature credit purchases for the most environmentally harmful industries and all government infrastructure projects.
- Invest boldly in regenerative projects that accelerate the transition to a nature-positive economy.
- Continue large-scale grant programmes for woodland creation and peatland restoration.
Community Empowerment
- Fund community land acquisition to make local people active partners in regeneration.
- Relax planning rules for sustainable homes on newly lotted land to revitalise rural economies.
- Support innovation in ecotourism, regenerative agriculture, and renewable energy.
- Position Scotland as the global leader in nature investment — where finance, conservation, and community benefit meet.