A £10m annual fund to help communities buy the land they live and work on has been announced by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Land Fund will continue until 2020 and support has more than trebled to £10m a year.

Previously, the fund awarded £9m over three years to 52 communities, with 90,000 acres purchased on top of the 500,000 acres already in community ownership.

Land reform minister Aileen McLeod urged communities to consider if owning land could bring greater benefit for local people.

Speaking ahead of stage three of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, Ms McLeod said: "The important thing is that communities are able to make the right choice for them in order to meet local needs and further sustainable development in their local area.

"This is why we have restructured the fund to ensure support is available to communities from the idea stages right through to project development."

Scottish Labour has tabled amendments to increase transparency in the new register now being proposed by the Scottish Government.

Sarah Boyack, the party's spokeswoman for environmental justice, said: "The SNP like to talk a good game on land reform but the reality is that it has been the Labour party that has led the way in the consideration of this important piece of legislation."

The Scottish Conservatives are expected to oppose the bill amid concerns it will "disadvantage tenants, make it harder for new entrants and discourage owners of land from letting it, in direct contrast to the stated aims of the bill".

Scottish Greens will press amendments to restrict ownership by companies using British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies such as the Cayman Islands.

Andy Wightman, the party's land reform spokesman, said: "Scottish land should not be owned by companies using tax havens."

The Scottish Wildlife Trust has backed measures to strengthen deer management provisions in the Bill.

Scottish Land and Estates said landowners are being cast as "whipping boys in an increasingly hostile debate".

Chairman David Johnstone said: "Our members are not anti-land reform. We want land reform that brings about better use of land, rather than a tired, narrow debate that focuses only on who owns what."