Land Reform Policy Group: Recommendations for Action

6. Crofting Legislation

6.1 Existing crofting legislation has, over the past century and more, effectively protected the interests of crofters and helped minimise population loss in the remote crofting areas. But much of the detail of the legislation is increasingly outdated and unsuited to modern circumstances of rural development. In particular, there needs to be more local involvement in and accountability for crofting administration, and much simplified crofting legislation and administration.

6.2 The Land Reform Policy Group has identified the following possible agenda for reforming existing crofting legislation.

Crofting trusts

Legislation to give all crofting communities who create a properly constituted crofting trust a right to have ownership of their croft land transferred to that trust on fair financial terms. This legislation will aim to give to all other crofting communities the same basic rights to acquire their croft land as are already available to the Secretary of State's croft tenants through the provisions of the Transfer of Crofting Estates (Scotland) Act 1997. New legislation must however also address the need to ensure that the landlord is properly compensated, deal with associated property rights (such as minerals, sporting rights and the position of sporting tenants) and liabilities, and cater for impacts on associated properties and residual properties.

Creation of new crofts and new crofting lands

Legislation to allow the creation of new crofts by removing the barrier to the creation of crofts contained in present legislation and allowing landowners in crofting areas to create crofts and new crofting common grazings on land which is not currently in crofting tenure including, with the consent of tenants, the conversion of existing non-croft holdings to crofting tenure. The legislation would set out a procedure whereby the proposal to create new croft land is notified to the Crofters Commission who will, if satisfied that the proposal is of benefit to rural development, make a direction that the land is croft land and record that in the Register of Crofts.

Legislation to allow the creation of new crofting lands by modifying the existing legislative definition of a croft so that the area in which crofting tenure operates can be readily extended by order by the Scottish Parliament to include areas which are not within the existing crofting counties. The legislation would prescribe how the new areas are to be defined and provide that land within these new areas may only come into crofting tenure through the operation of the proposed procedures for creating new crofts.

Devolution of crofting regulation

Legislation to allow responsibility for regulatory decisions to be devolved to local bodies. Such legislation would be an enabling provision to allow the Crofters Commission to delegate its regulatory responsibilities over time to local bodies that are willing to undertake this work and fully capable of doing it properly. The legislation would also permit the Crofters Commission to adopt and follow different regulatory policies in different areas, depending on local circumstances and the level of interest locally in devolution of regulation.

Updated crofting law

Legislation to update the existing laws regulating crofting: to tighten control over decrofting by redefining "reasonable purpose"; to curtail controls over subdivision of crofts and simplify controls over subletting of crofts by replacing the requirement to have Crofters Commission consent to change with a requirement to notify the change to the Commission; to put in place new arrangements which will enable owner occupiers to let their croft lands without creating a crofting tenancy; to simplify controls over croft assignations and reduce Crofters Commission involvement in croft re-lets and in succession matters by changing consent requirements and associated procedures so that routine changes do not need the specific consent of the Commission. The changes would be directed at reducing the administrative burden of controls over crofting whilst enhancing flexibility and effectiveness. Legislation to remove the existing requirement that grants to crofters should be linked to agricultural production thereby allowing assistance to be directed specifically at supporting rural development rather than simply agricultural production. Legislation to clarify the right of crofters to plant trees on their land and to give them a clear right to exploit the trees they plant for timber and other purposes including the right to sell the timber and timber products.

6.3 Such crofting legislation, augmented as appropriate by the detailed work of the Crofting Legislation Reform Group set up by the Crofters Commission, would play a crucial part within the overall comprehensive land reform agenda.