Land reform in Scotland is the ongoing process by which the ownership of land, its distribution and the law which governs it is modified, reformed and modernised by property and regulatory law. Land ownership in Scotland Scotland's land issues are rooted in two processes that happened in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in the Scottish Highlands: Enclosures: landlords took control of the common lands under their regime, made them their private property, and excluded their tenants from using them. Highland Clearances: many landlords forcibly evicted their tenant farmers from their lands, in order to use their lands for more profitable businesses. Other Gaels were transplanted to smaller plots on less productive land, or forced to leave by increasing rents. The Clearances created strong anti-landlord sentiments among the displaced and remaining inhabitants. A result of these processes was a severe concentration of land ownership that continues today. According to some estimates, 432 families own half the private lands in Scotland, and just over 1200 landowners hold 2/3 of Scotland's lands. The Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 gave crofters in the north and west of Scotland substantial security of occupation of their crofts. Further legislation since means that the landlords of crofts have very limited rights and being the tenant of a croft is a much more valuable right than being the owner. (Crofting Act 1993) The Scotland land reform aims to balance the land-ownership situation by: Securing the rights of access to common land, Protecting the rights of tenants and small farmers, and Helping small farmers and communities to buy land from large landowners. Devolution and Labour Government (1997–2007) In 1997 a Labour Government was elected to Westminster on a manifesto which included both devolution and land reform. Upon election, a Land Reform Policy Group (LRPG) was established under the chairmanship of Lord Sewel, then Scottish Office Minister of State, who was also tasked with steering devolution legislation though the house of lords. Policy proposals and an extensive public consultation were published by the LRPG in 1999, the same year that the first elections to the newly devolved Scottish parliament returned a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition. Following the momentum of the 1997 and 1999 elections, devolution and the LRPG's proposals, land reform progressed rapidly in the first session of the Scottish parliament with bills introduced to abolish Scotland's feudal land tenure system and a draft land reform bill introduced