South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth has urged the Scottish Government to do more to support community ownership across the South of Scotland.

The local MSP was speaking in the Scottish Parliament today (4 September 2019) when he highlighted the low number of cases on community land buy-outs in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders compared to the Highlands and Islands. He urged the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Roseanna Cunninghame to consider what more can be done by the Government to back community land buy-outs such those being developed for Langholm Moor , Wanlockhead and Dumfries Town Centre properties.

Commenting after the exchange Colin Smyth said, “There have been some excellent community buyouts in the South of Scotland such as Castle Loch in Lochmaben and the Mull of Galloway, but this is a fraction of the number we have seen in the Highlands and Islands. I hope the Scottish Government will do more to support more potential community land owners in the South of Scotland, where the need to tackle economic challenges is as strong as it is in the Highlands and Islands”.