This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Committee of Inquiry on crofting
02/04/2007
Scottish Ministers have appointed members to the Committee of Inquiry on crofting.
The Committee, established under the chairmanship of Professor Mark Shucksmith, will engage proactively with crofting communities to establish a vision for the future of crofting.
Deputy Rural Development Minister Sarah Boyack said:
"Crofting has supported and sustained rural communities for generations.
"This committee will consider how crofting can best continue to sustain and enhance the population of rural Scotland, improve economic vitality, safeguard our landscape and biodiversity and promote cultural diversity.
"Under the leadership of Mark Shucksmith, the committee will be well placed to draw on its members' knowledge of crofting conditions across all the main crofting areas of the Highlands and Islands to develop a vision for the future of crofting."
Background
The Minister for Environment and Rural Development announced the Executive's intention to create a Committee of Inquiry on Crofting on 27 September 2006 during the Scottish Parliament's Stage 1 debate on the Crofting Reform etc. (Scotland) Bill. The appointment of the Chair and publication of the Committee's Terms of Reference followed on 12 December 2006. Staff have since been put in post to service the committee so the appointment of the committee members is the final stage in the process of constituting the committee
The Committee's Terms of Reference, can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/rural/crofting/. The Committee is expected to complete its work by the end of 2007 and report to Ministers as soon as possible thereafter.
Professor Mark Shucksmith is Professor of Planning at Newcastle University, and was until recently Professor of Land Economy and Co-Director of the Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research, University of Aberdeen, and Co-Director of the Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice. He is a Board Member of England's Countryside Agency from 1st April 2005 (Commission for Rural Communities from 1st October 2006) and was a member of the Government's Affordable Rural Housing Commission. He is Adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on rural issues, and was Secretary to JRF's Rural Housing Policy Forum. He is also Visiting Professor at the Centre for Rural Research, University of Trondheim, Norway.
He has been adviser to the Environment & Rural Development Committee of the Scottish Parliament and is a member of SEERAD's Strategic Science Advisory Panel.
The new committee members, who will be unpaid, are as follows :
Jane Brown
Jane Brown is a crofter in Shetland. She also has a consultancy business which supports crofters and farmers in Shetland by acting as their agent. The business specialises in all aspects of crofting administration and support schemes. Her previous career was in rural community work.
Fred Edwards LVO
Fred Edwards, the President of Scottish Environment Link served on the board of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) from 2000 - 2006. Mr. Edwards, a Chartered Environmentalist, lives in the Lothians and is a full time voluntary worker with a special personal interest in the environment. He is widely involved in a range of organisations involving international development, ecological, conservation, and social justice matters. He is a board member of Friends of the Earth Scotland and a Trustee of New Lanark. He has experience in industry and of rural island and urban areas gained from his time in public sector work as a social work director.
Professor James Hunter
Professor James Hunter is director of the UHI Centre for History. He was the first director of the Scottish Crofters Union (now the Scottish Crofting Foundation) and has written extensively on crofting matters. From 1998 until 2004 he chaired the board of Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Susan Lamont
Susan Lamont is employed by NFU Scotland as a part time Group Secretary for Tiree and is an agent for NFU Mutual Insurance. She is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and is married to a full time crofter.
Norman A Macdonald
Mr Macdonald is a Councillor representing Uig (Lewis) on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
Professor Donald MacRae FRSE
Professor MacRae is the Strategy and Finance Director for Lloyds TSB Scotland and Visiting Professor of Business and Economic Development in Abertay's Dundee Business School since 2000. He joined Lloyds TSB Scotland in 1986 following posts with ICI and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is the author of Lloyds TSB's Scotland Business Monitor, which surveys the Scottish economy on a quarterly basis. He is also a board member of Scottish Enterprise and a member of the Scottish Executive Economic Statistics and Scottish Executive Economists Advisory Group. He is a past chairman of the Business Forum Scotland, a past board member of Scottish Homes, and a trustee of the David Hume Institute Agnes Rennie, MBE
Agnes Rennie lives with her family on her croft at South Galson on Lewis and is a native Gaelic speaker. She is self employed and as well as working her croft is a consultant in rural development. Mrs Rennie was formerly a member of the Crofters Commission. She is a Justice of the Peace and a past chair of Iomairt nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Enterprise). Agnes is also vice chair of Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn (UOG), which is the new community owner of the 56,000 acre Galson estate.
Becky Shaw
Becky Shaw grew up on a hill farm on the Isle of Bute and is the Land Use Programme Manager with the Scottish Crofting Foundation. She works from her home in Golspie, Sutherland.