Independence can make land a common treasury
by Roz Paterson, 10-05-2011
When we envisage Scottish independence, most of us want more than a tartan tiger economy and Lion Rampants on the post boxes.
Increased democracy and accountability, for instance, an end to our involvement in illegal, US-led wars, and the introduction of free school meals in fully-resourced state schools would do for starters.
But what about sustainability? Academic research suggests that a sense of ownership and security leads to better land husbandry, stronger communities, and more thoughtful, long-term decision-making.
The research focuses on land reform and community buy-outs, like that at Eigg and Gigha, but could Scottish independence create a similar, more widespread sense of connection to the land, and what benefits could it entail?
One of the problems Scotland has had is that decisions regarding the use of our considerable energy resources, from North Sea oil to North Sea wave power, have been made with regard to liberalised and competitive markets, rather than to Scotland's needs and carbon footprint.
If we uncoupled ourselves from the global economic trend, and thought in practical rather than profitable terms, we could lead the world in sustainable development.
For instance, if all energy utilities were taken into public ownership, public money could be channelled into ironing out such problems as how to store wind energy, to be used when climatic conditions made generating energy impossible. This kind of research is scarce in the current profit-driven system because chronic short-termism make capitalists wary of investing without certainty of quick returns.
Public investment and a not-for-profit system don't necessarily have these glitches. Investment could also be made into energy efficiency, in homes, public buildings, factories and places of business, and into building or retro-fitting all accommodation to the Passivhaus standard, resulting in dry, well-ventilated homes that are warm, without heating, in winter, and cool in summer.
Given how well Scotland took to the universality of free prescriptions, then surely we could also contemplate the concept of 100 per cent grants to make all homes, even middle-class ones, comfortable and, importantly, carbon-neutral?
Public ownership of energy utilities could also ensure that domestic prices are kept stable, with subsidies available for those with the greatest need, including elderly people and those with young families.
Continuing with this collective spirit, Scotland could follow the lead of Hasselt, in Belgium, and introduce a fully comprehensive, free public transport system, incorporating rail, bus and ferry routes.
It's an idea that works, as the cost of building up the transport network and buying up the privateers is more than offset, in time, by the reduced need to build and maintain roads and the sharp decrease in road accidents.
It also hugely improves the quality of life of those isolated by geography or poverty, engenders a greater sense of community and with it, security and general well-being, and, by taking tens of thousands if not millions of cars off the roads, makes us fitter, richer, and closer to eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels.
An independent Scotland could also close the nuclear submarine base at Faslane and see to the decommissioning of our ailing – that is, all –nuclear power stations, whose contribution to our net energy production could be made up through a combination of further investment in renewable resources and dramatically increased energy efficiency.
As for the land itself, we could create land reforms with teeth, thus ensuring that our incredible land resources are not squandered on private estates owned by absentee landlords and the needs of multinational agribusiness.
We could do worse than introduce land reforms that allow for a network of smallholdings and community and family farms, supported by agricultural collectives that ensure fair prices, and a housing policy that provides council housing for rural workers and their attendant
communities.
A revival in our agriculture could see a revival in our food security, currently dipping below 60 per cent, increased sustainability, better links between urban and rural communities, and a greater sense of connection to the land we live in, and from.
Scotland need not be a landed estate, for the sport of gentry, but a common treasury for every last one of us. We could make it that way.