Crofting Law Reform – Update

The last decade has seen an almost constant procession of crofting legislation, draft bills, consultations, further draft bills, bills introduced to Parliament and passed by Parliament, commencement orders, a Committee of Inquiry and, at the end of it all, three Acts of Parliament, – two consolidating acts, namely the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2007 and the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, and also the Crofting Amendment (Scotland) Act 2013, which dealt only with decrofting provisions.

Despite the hard work which has surely gone in to these developments, the statutory framework remains cumbersome, to say the very least.

The Crofting Law Group’s Derek Flyn and Keith Graham spent considerable time in compiling the “Sump”; a compendium of the deficiencies and failings of crofting law. Their final report was published in November 2014 and can be found here. The Sump Report, together with wider calls from the legal community and the wider crofting community, led to a commitment from the Scottish Government in its Programme for Government 2015-2016 to “engage with stakeholders and with crofters to help determine what further changes might require to be made to the crofting legislative framework.”

Holyrood’s Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee issued a call for evidence in 2016, and heard oral evidence in November 2016 (which evidence can be seen here). The Committee published its “Review of Priorities for Crofting Law Reform” in March 2017, which can be found here,  and the matter was debated in Parliament on 2 May, the transcript of which can be seen here.

The journey towards reform is underway.