Tag Archives: Orkney

Nominations open for Crofting Commission elections

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tand as a Candidate for the Crofting Commission

Fishermen may apply

An election is being held to elect Crofting Commissioners from the six crofting constituencies:

  • Shetland
  • Orkney and Caithness
  • East Highlands (East Sutherland, Easter Ross, East Inverness and Moray)
  • Western Isles
  • West Highlands (West Sutherland, Wester Ross. Skye and Lochalsh)
  • South West Highlands (Lochaber, Argyll and Bute, Arran and Cumbrae, Small Isles)

One Commissioner will be elected from each constituency and will, along with the three Commissioners appointed by the Scottish Government, make up the Board of the Crofting Commission.

Nomination forms and other documents relating to the election can be downloaded from www.cne-siar.gov.uk/electionoffice/croftingelection; obtained on request, by e- mail to elections@cne-siar.gov.uk; or from the Election Offices detailed in the Notice of Election. Completed nomination forms must be submitted by Thursday 26 January 2017.

An election will be held in each contested constituency by postal ballot, with votes having to be returned by 4.00pm on Thursday 16 March 2017.  The count will take place in the Town Hall, Point Street, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis HS1 2XF on Friday 17 March 2017 at 10.00am.

View from the Crofting Law Blog

The election nominations have been called at a time when the current Crofting Commission remains in chaos. The board is divided, the Convener is ostracised but remains in position possibly pending the outcome of a complaint made by him against Fergus Ewing MSP, Cabinet Minister with responsibility for crofting. Vacancies for two appointed Commissioners remain unfilled.

With elections now in sight there is perhaps a glimmer of hope that they will herald in a new batch of commissioners and, as a result a new and improved Crofting Commission. However, the current Convener, Colin Kennedy, has already expressed his intention to stand again for election. He has been accused by many as the root cause of the problems that have plagued the Crofting Commission throughout its first five years of existence. So will it be a change for the better on 17 March 2017 or another 5 years of chaos, trouble and strife? That is now in the hands of the crofters who are the electorate.

The image used to encourage people to stand for election as a crofting commissioner is curiously of a fisherman. I had the following exchange about that on Twitter:-

To stand for election as a crofting commissioner you do not actually have to be a crofter as long as you have been nominated by a crofter entitled to vote at the election. So a pure fisherman, without a croft, could be a crofting commissioner.

My father was a Shetland fisherman and not a crofter. He was not even a fisherman with a croft. However, he would, I am sure, have made a better crofting commissioner than many of the crofters who hold that position today. Perhaps non-crofters being nominated for and being elected as crofting commissioners would avoid the conflicts of interest and power struggles that have plagued the current Crofting Commission over the past five years? Perhaps it would be a good thing for crofting? What do you think?

Brian Inkster

Shetland and Orkney should be separate constituencies in the 2017 crofting election

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Tavish Scott thinks Orkney and Shetland should remain separate constituencies in the 2017 crofting elections

Tavish Scott: “The consultation needs to offer something different: separate constituencies for Orkney and Shetland in the 2017 crofting election”

Following my recent blog post on the 2017 Crofting Elections Consultation being flawed there have been calls for Shetland and Orkney to remain separate constituencies in the 2017 crofting election.

The Shetland Times reported online yesterday that Liberal Democrat candidate for Shetland in the Scottish election, Tavish Scott, was of the view that Shetland and Orkney should be considered as separate constituencies in the 2017 crofting election.

Mr Scott said:-

Shetland’s crofting communities face different challenges to those in Orkney, but yet again the Scottish government is proposing to ride roughshod over the needs of local people.

The SNP simply does not understand these differences. Already we have ministers who have imposed a one-size-fits-all approach, failing to take into account the unique nature of crofting in the isles.

Already crofters are spending more time meeting the demands of regulation and waiting for payments that have been delayed by months.

The consultation needs to offer something different: separate constituencies for Orkney and Shetland in the 2017 crofting election.

Diversity between our crofting communities should be encouraged and supported but the SNP does not appear willing to even entertain that idea.

This view was backed up by NFU Shetland Chairman, Jim Nicolson, who said:-

Regarding constituencies, my position is that Shetland remains a constituency on its own.

It’s very, very difficult for whoever is the commissioner. It’s time consuming, expensive, and there are a large number of crofters to represent in Shetland as it is.

Hopefully the consultation exercise will take account of such views resulting, if necessary, in the addition of a further elected crofting commissioner to allow the Western Isles to be split into two constituencies (if there does indeed exist the desire to do so) but not at the expense of unnecessarily and unreasonably combining Orkney with Shetland.

Brian Inkster

Photo Credit: Rob McDougall

Crofting Election Consultation is flawed

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Is it really necessary to divide the Western Isles but combine Orkney and Shetland?

Is it really necessary to divide the Western Isles but combine Orkney and Shetland?

The Scottish Government recently launched a consultation on the 2017 Crofting Elections. Unfortunately that consultation is somewhat flawed.

The main part of the consultation seeks the views of crofters on the best way to divide up the crofting areas into six constituencies. There is an attempt to possibly make the number of crofts in the six constituencies more equal. Due to the Western Isles containing almost a third of all crofts it has been suggested that this constituency could be divided into two (Lewis and Harris as one constituency with Uist and Barra as another). However creating two new constituencies from one will mean larger or combined constituencies elsewhere if the number of constituencies are to be maintained at six. The resulting options put forward in the consultation paper see Orkney and Shetland combined into one constituency or both combined with Caithness.

Whilst there may be merit in dividing the Western Isles in two it is undoubtedly the case that crofting in Shetland is very different to crofting in Orkney. Should those two distinct crofting areas be combined?

What the consultation paper misses altogether is that there is no need to be confined to six constituencies. The mistake appears to be an assumption that because there are currently six elected crofting commissioners there must be six constituencies. But in the same way that the Scottish Government may, by regulations, amend constituency boundaries they can likewise vary the number of elected members under and in terms of paragraph 3(6)(c) of Schedule 1 to the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993. This could and should be given as an option in the consultation paper. By not offering it the consultation is flawed.

Brian Inkster