Tag Archives: Croft House Grant Scheme

New SCF Chair

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Russell Smith - Chair of the Scottish Crofting Federation

Russell Smith – Chair of the Scottish Crofting Federation

With recent news of crofting commissioner appointments and a new CEO at the Crofting Commission it should also be noted that just before Christmas a new chair was appointed to the Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF).

At their board and council meeting on 16 December 2016, the SCF said thanks to the out-going chair, Fiona Mandeville, who stepped down on completion of her two year tenure. Fiona handed the role to Russell Smith, a crofter from Bonar Bridge in Sutherland.

Mr Smith commented:-

The Federation has achieved a great deal in the past two years, not least the pledges made by the SNP in their manifesto and confirmed recently by the Cabinet Secretary for crofting, Fergus Ewing MSP. The pledges mirror the ‘Five Actions for Crofting’ published by the SCF just before the election.

We have brought crofting very much back on to the Scottish Government agenda with the promise from them to modernise crofting law and make it more transparent, understandable and workable in practice. This will be no mean feat but the law needs to be made to work for crofters not for lawyers. We have won a substantial improvement in the Croft House Grant Scheme and await the government’s action to re-introduce the Croft House Loan Scheme.

Scottish Government will also explore mechanisms to make more publicly owned land available to new entrants, a long running campaign of the SCF, and have promised to introduce a new entrant’s scheme for crofting and to explore the creation of new woodland crofts. At last the National Development Plan for Crofting we asked for is closer to becoming a reality.

So, yes, we have achieved a lot, but there is still much to do. With the prospect of leaving the European Union, one of the few certainties is that support to agriculture and particularly to crofting will have to be fought for. Being the only organisation solely dedicated to representing crofters means that SCF will have to fight hard to avoid being marginalised by big farmers in other parts of the country. Crofters need to stand together under one banner so that our voices can be heard.

21 crofters to share over £705,000 from Croft House Grant Scheme

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Fergus Ewing MSP announces £705,000 of Croft House GrantsCrofters will benefit from better housing through funding under the Croft House Grant Scheme.

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity, Fergus Ewing, confirmed 21 crofters will share over £705,000 from the scheme. The funding allows crofters to build or improve homes, helping to retain and attract people to rural communities in the crofting counties of Scotland.

Since the start of 2007, over £15 million of grant payments have been awarded. From 1 April 2016, changes made to the grant support mechanism include a significant increase in individual grants, with some crofters now eligible for £38,000 of funding.

Mr Ewing confirmed the funds on a visit to a recently constructed croft house near Kiltarlity in the Highlands. He said:

Good quality housing is essential for crofters. We need to draw people to Scotland’s most remote and rural communities and the Croft House Grant can do that. Upgrading or building new properties can help crofters fulfil their duty to live on or close to their croft and can help them undertake additional agricultural activity.

This funding will make a real difference to 21 crofters and their families across the Highlands, Western Isles, Northern Isles and Argyll. Since 2007 over 800 homes have been improved or built under the scheme. It is great to see how this support can make a difference and I look forward to hearing many more success stories from the latest awards.

Mark Wiper crofts at Ardendrain near Kiltarlity in Inverness-shire. He received £11,500 through the scheme in 2012, enabling him to build a three bedroom family home on his croft. He said:

The funding from the Croft House Grants Scheme went toward building Tigh Na Cleit. I’ve been there for two years now and being able to live on the croft I’m working on is great. Beforehand, I was living at home with my parents and having my own home has given me much needed independence.

The grant has provided me the opportunity to build a property that is completely fit for purpose, and allows me to still live close to my family. Crofting can be very challenging and any support to help maintain the way of life is welcome.

The 21 grants referred to are being made to crofters in the following locations:-

  • Caithness
  • Inverness-shire
  • Isle of Lewis
  • Isle of Skye
  • Isle of Islay
  • North Uist
  • Ross-shire
  • Shetland
  • Sutherland

For details of the scheme see: The Scottish Government – Rural Payments – Croft House Grant

Croft House Grant Scheme Consultation

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New Croft HouseThe legal requirement for a crofter to live on or near the croft brings with it a requirement for that crofter to have somewhere to live. This has long been recognised by both Westminster and the Scottish Government. Over the past thirty years, support has been available to meet this need but that support now requires rethinking if it is to meet today’s housing needs. To this end, the Scottish Government are currently seeking responses to its consultation on proposed changes to the Croft House Grant Scheme (CHGS). It is a consultation that many would argue is long overdue.

The Scheme aims to attract and retain crofters by enabling them to build (or improve) housing on their croft. That residency requirement has always been enshrined in the Crofting Acts. A crofter must be resident on, or within 32km, of their croft. This is currently a key driver of Crofting Commission policy. The consultation comes at a time when crofting legislation itself is being closely scrutinised by crofting law practitioners and parliamentary committees.

The current levels of support for the construction of a new house from the CHGS is £22,000 for a ‘high geographical priority area’, £17,000 for a standard priority and £11,500 for low priority. This prioritisation is largely based on the view that building on the islands and some of the more remote parts of the mainland is more expensive, therefore grants are increased accordingly.

To be eligible for the grant you must be a tenant crofter, a Kyles crofter or cottar (the meaning of the latter two is for another blog post). Tenants who have purchased and become owner-occupiers in the last seven years were supposed to be eligible, but this is currently uncertain – see my colleague Eilidh Ross Maclellan’s post on that subject.

The proposed changes increase the rates to £28,000 and £23,000 respectively for a High and Standard priority areas, and introduces just two geographical areas – Island and Non-Island. This change in geographical boundaries will mean an increase in support for some areas compared to the previous scheme, which will be good news for some. However, looking back to the CHGS’s predecessor, it is arguable that the proposals put forward in the consultation will still have little impact.

The previous Croft Building Grant and Loan Scheme (CBGLS) was introduced in 1986. Initially, the scheme contained a loan element – paid back to the Government over a period of time (typically 40 years), and a grant element.

It helped many crofters secure a home on their croft. (In fact, the house I grew up in was, largely, paid for by it. In 1986, my parents would have been some of the first people to build their house with assistance from the CBGLS). Back then, if you were frugal, the loan and grant could go a very long way. Nowadays, the amount offered might barely cover the cost of an average house kit.

The Scottish Crofting Federation recently gave their views on the matter, and highlighted some interesting figures. The average cost of building a house in 1986 was £27,860, and the CBGLS, on average, met 82% of building costs. However, over the years the level of support no longer increased with the rising cost of building a home.  The loan element was withdrawn in 2004, and was not replaced with the introduction of the CHGS. The Federation calculated in 2008 that support was around 14% of total build costs.

The Shucksmith Report of 2008 stated that the support levels were too low, in an age where typical build costs exceeded £100,000 – a figure that has only increased. The only way that most crofters could raise the finance to build was to decroft, in order to obtain commercial lending. This remains the case. Currently, decrofted house sites are not eligible for grant support. However, the consultation proposes that decrofted houses linked to the croft would be eligible for support, as would ‘adjoining or adjacent’ land.

Another question the consultation poses is the size requirements of a house. It is currently the case that only houses of three beds or more will be eligible for funding – a  rule that makes outdated assumptions about the size of a crofter’s family and does not give consideration that houses – like families – can grow and evolve over the years when time and finances allow. The current restriction looks short-sighted.

Any increase if of course welcome, however marginal it may be, but without the ability to obtain the support of a lender, the increase will make little difference, meaning decrofting will continue to be the only route for many. Most crofters are not in the fortunate position of being able to finance the building of a house without a mortgage. If one of the key aims of the Crofting Commission is to retain croft land in crofting tenure, and people working that land, then the Scottish Government may need to consider reintroducing a croft house loan, or, as suggested by the Scottish Crofting Federation, exert some pressure on commercial lenders to consider mortgage products for crofters. The latter may require a change in the law to facilitate mortgages over croft land.

The consultation closes on 31 March 2015 and can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2015/01/4893/0

Martin Minton

Image Credit: Urban Realm: Highland Croft House completes

Did the 2010 Act Equalise Availability of Crofting Grants?

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Did the 2010 Act Equalise Availability of Crofting GrantsThe crofting-specific grants, namely the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grant Scheme (CCAGS) and the Croft House Grant Scheme (CHGS) were expected to be extended to owner-occupier crofters by virtue of the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

The former scheme provides grants towards agricultural developments such as sheds, barns, fencing and other permanent improvements; the latter towards the building of a croft house. As one would expect, myriad regulations control the provision of each, but there is little doubt that these grants are still a major draw for those wishing to build croft houses and / or carry on agricultural activities on their crofts. Before 2010, it was the case that both types of grant assistance ceased to be available to owner-occupier crofters, and therefore this was a major reason to remain a tenant crofter.

The Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 was intended to equalise owner-occupier crofters and tenant crofters, both in terms of the regulatory framework to which they were subject, and also the financial assistance which was available to them. However, the regulations which are required in order to facilitate the extension of financial assistance to owner-occupier crofters have only been passed in respect of the CCAGS, not in respect of the CHGS.

I approached the Scottish Government for a comment on this matter and received the following statement:-

It is the Scottish Government’s intention that the CHGS scheme should accurately reflect the equality intention of the primary legislation, which would mean making CHGS assistance equally available to both tenant and owner-occupier crofters, irrespective of who the croft had been bought from and the length of time the croft house site had been the private property of the crofter.  In order to do this, the Scottish Government is required to amend the CHGS regulations through the Scottish Parliament.  This is under active consideration and, following the Parliamentary process, the scheme would then apply equally to all.

The effect of the current lack of new CHGS regulations is that for crofters who purchased a short time ago, or who have not yet purchased their crofts, must hope that the regulations are indeed passed before the 7 year period expires. That may not happen. Furthermore, crofters who purchased their croft in the mid-noughties are increasingly likely to run out of time.

Eilidh Ross