Scotland's land information system: what is it and why does it matter

A new report, written by land reform expert Andy Wightman, commissioned jointly by the David Hume Institute and Built Environment Forum Scotland, says the lack of a fully functioning land and building information system is holding Scotland back.

The paper discusses Scotland’s land information service - what it is and why it matters - and what still needs to be done to fulfil a 2015 Scottish Government commitment in 2015 to deliver a comprehensive Scottish Land Information Service (SCOTLIS).

Information about land and buildings is used everyday by businesses, policy-makers, academics and ordinary citizens. This information ranges from land ownership to valuation, from energy efficiency ratings to building types and from vegetation cover to flood risks.

All of this information exists in some form, however much of it is not easily available and virtually none of it is made available in an integrated form. As the impacts of climate change intensify, there is even greater need for more timely, more comprehensive and more accessible information about land and buildings in Scotland.

This briefing originated from conversations as part of our largest piece of research to date, the Action Project and also connects to our work with Open Data Scotland on the potential of open data and our briefing on levelling up access to high speed broadband.

Read the press release.

About the author:

Andy Wightman is a writer and researcher focussing on land governance, land ownership and community land rights. He is the author of publications including Who Owns Scotland (1996), Scotland: Land and Power (1999), Community Land Rights: A Citizen’s Guide (2009) and The Poor Had No Lawyers (2010). He runs the Who Owns Scotland project. From 2016 to 2021, Andy was a Member of the Scottish Parliament. Andy was a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee Inquiry on Land Reform 2013-15 and was a member of the Commission on Local Tax Reform in 2015.

Photo credit: Pearse O’Halloran, free from Unsplash 07.05.2023