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DRAFT CROFTING REFORM (SCOTLAND) BILL:
Consultation Paper
FOREWORD
The reform of crofting legislation is the latest in a
series of measures by the Scottish Executive to deliver
land reform to Scotland. It follows the Land Reform
(Scotland) Act 2003 which gave crofting communities the
right to seek to purchase croft land itself. This draft
Bill is consistent with the land reform agenda and will
allow crofters and crofting communities greater rights and
enhance their ability to determine and secure their own
future.
The Crofters (Scotland) Act 1955 and its later additions
have served crofting well and assisted the retention of
population in the more remote and fragile communities of
the Highlands and Islands. Tenants' rights have remained
secure and crofters' use of croft land for principally
agricultural pursuits has been unimpeded. But society and
our economy have greatly changed during the intervening
years and the need now is for crofting legislation which,
while continuing essential protection, also enables
crofters to take advantage of these changes.
Our aim is to amend the legal framework of crofting to
increase the opportunities open to croft tenants and croft
owners, to enable those living in some of our most remote
rural areas of the Highlands and Islands to use their land
in new ways as well as continuing in traditional ways. We
aim to allow crofters, for the first time, to make use of
their whole croft for purposes other than agriculture. This
is not to say that agriculture on crofts is no longer
valued. On the contrary, we continue to make specific
grants available to crofters to encourage good agricultural
use of crofts. However, we have also recognised that it is
time to allow crofters greater freedom to derive income
from their crofts in other ways.
We have been careful to suggest reducing the amount of
bureaucracy which crofting legislation imposes on crofters
and landlords, while still retaining the role of the
Crofters Commission in administering the system.
The draft Bill would enable the Crofters Commission
themselves to change to become self-standing and
independent of central government. The Commission's powers
would be expanded to include power to make grants and they
will be given new roles in ensuring croft land is well used
and grazing regulations are observed.
We propose to balance these new powers by introducing a
comprehensive system of appeal against all decisions of the
Crofters Commission in order to provide crofters and
landlords with the rights which they already expect under
other forms of law administered by Government bodies.
I hope that the proposals put forward in this draft Bill
will be carefully considered by all connected with crofting
and interested in ensuring that crofting continues to give
Scotland its cultural and environmental distinctiveness.
Details of how to respond to the draft Bill proposals are
set out in Chapter 7 and I hope good use will be made of
this opportunity.
ROSS FINNIE
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