New policy plan

The second batch of Commissioners (since the commencement of the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010) was elected to the Crofting Commission in March this year.

Following the election, the new Commission was required to produce a plan detailing their policies and objectives, and yesterday such a plan was published, having been approved by Ministers. The Commission’s press release stated that:-

The purpose of the plan is to explain to tenants and owner-occupier crofters, landlords, organisations and agencies how the Crofting Commission will make decisions in line with legislation and also why crofting must be consistently regulated, to effectively bring benefits to crofting communities.”

You can find the plan here, and the Commission’s full press release here.

In short, the new plan is a more comprehensive, cohesive and balanced document. Furthermore, the 2012 plan was rather more specific in its parameters and consequently those Commissioners had less room for manoeuvre, in terms of policy implementation.

The 2017 plan, whilst still indicating the Commission’s intention to take a firm stance on crofting regulation, is less emotive and rather more reasoned.

A few observations, in no particular order:-

  • The strategic objectives in the new plan are largely unchanged.

  • There is no mention of “speculation” in the new plan. This was a central tenet of the former Commission’s thinking.

  • Residency duty – the tone is much softer now. Gone is the promise of “firm action on absenteeism”.

  • Consent to be Absent – the time limit of 2 years has been removed.

  • Assignation policy is largely unchanged.

  • Subletting / short term letting – Gone is (1) the assumption that there is generally a demand for croft tenancies, and (2) mention of time limits.

  • Division – the reference to a minimum area has been removed, although the Commission will not approve applications which will facilitate “unsustainable” units.

  • Apportionment – the reference to a 15 year maximum time has been removed.

  • There are new policies on enlargement of crofts, exchange of croft land, crofter forestry, resumption, reorganisation, failure of intestate succession to tenancies, and planning.

Kirsty Montgomery

Hi, I’m Kirsty!

The designer behind Kirsty M Design.

I love small businesses and working with business owners to build websites that support their dreams is such an awesome part of my job! Why let the huge faceless corporations have all the fun (and the money)? Your small business can make a huge difference but it needs a smart website to support it.

http://www.kirstym.com
Previous
Previous

What do you want from crofting law?

Next
Next

Croft purchase and sale - part 2