We shall decroft

The Crofting (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2013 become law on 31 July 2013 when it received Royal Assent. This will have come as a great relief to many owner-occupier crofters who were in decrofting limbo. What will also have been welcoming to those crofters was the speed at which the Crofting Commission, having halted the decrofting process, actually processed applications post 31 July with some decrofting directions being issued during the first week of August. With a 42 day appeal period that means that this coming week (assuming no appeals) many owner-occupier crofters will have effective decrofting directions for the first time since the Crofting Commission stopped accepting and processing applications on 25 February 2013 (i.e. 7 months later).

So relief for owner-occupier crofters but not yet for many owner-occupiers (who are not owner-occupier crofters) if they cannot get consent to decroft from neighbours who happen to be owners of part of what was the original croft unit. They will unfortunately remain in decrofting limbo. I have blogged previously on this blog about the inequity of this situation and will continue to do so in future blog posts.

Brian Inkster

[Photo Credit: The Queen at her Balmoral Estate in Scotland taken by Julian Calder]