Tag Archives: Sutherland

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

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

Book Review: Set Adrift Upon the World – The Sutherland Clearances

Set Adrift Upon the World - The Sutherland ClearancesIn ‘Set Adrift Upon the World’ James Hunter masterly weaves together a fascinating account of the Sutherland Clearances. One that takes you from the Strath of Kildonan and other parts of Sutherland to battles in New Orleans via South Africa and onto the foundation of what is now the Canadian city of Winnipeg.

Along the way you are introduced to characters from the early 1800s that have a familiarity about them as their names remain in use today throughout the Highlands & Islands of Scotland. Heart wrenching accounts are given of the barbarity of evictions that left people homeless and often resulted in the death of the young or infirm shortly on the back thereof. Journeys by foot across frozen Canada conjure up images like those from the Oscar winning film ‘The Revenant’. On a lighter note the intricacies of malt whisky making are explained and we learn what Alison Watt’s favourite painting is in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.

The clearances were at the behest of the Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford (later to become the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland) to make way for large scale sheep farming. Those removed from the land would have the option of much smaller crofts on the fringes of the Sutherland Estate that would be unsustainable on their own without other income streams. Much indeed as crofting has become today. Many of those evicted instead moved to Caithness or further afield to Canada for the prospect of larger holdings on which to make a living.

The henchmen in the tale are James Loch, Commissioner to the Marquis of Stafford, and Patrick Sellar, Factor of the Sutherland Estate. The chapter on the trial of Patrick Sellar in the High Court on culpable homicide charges is an infuriating read for anyone concerned with the rule of law. Indeed that is a theme throughout the book where wealth and status invariably lead to injustice for others.

The book often feels more like a fictional novel rather than a factual historical account. That is the beauty of James Hunter’s approach to history and one he himself refers to as storytelling. This makes it a real page turner with you eager to know what happens next even though you know what the ending must be.

It was impossible for me to read this book without unfortunately seeing parallels to ‘The Common Clearances’ of today. That is the removal from office of Common Grazings Committees by the Crofting Commission. A body whose remit is supposedly to regulate not decimate crofting. This is currently happening with unusual regularity, in haste and on what appears to be completely unreasonable and unnecessary grounds. The Crofting Commission are today’s Marquis and Marchioness of Inverness and their henchmen are easily identifiable. Kangaroo courts, ignorance of the law, conflicts of interest, self-interest, corruption, nepotism, historical revisionism, intimidation and bullying have all been referred to as tactics used by the Crofting Commission as part of ‘The Common Clearances’. About the only difference with the Sutherland Clearances so far is the absence of fire. To think these comparisons are being made 200 years after the Sutherland Clearances is hard to fathom. Equally hard to believe is the fact that the Scottish Government of today has so far not intervened in what the Scottish Crofting Federation has referred to as a “calamity”.

As James Hunter points out, Beriah Botfield, a Tory MP, commented in 1830, that no “pursuit of prospective advantage” made it legitimate “to transgress the laws of humanity”.

Brian Inkster

N.B. This book review was written for and first appeared in Scottish Legal News and Irish Legal News.

Buy ‘Set Adrift Upon the World – The Sutherland Clearances’ at Amazon

The Crofting Law A-Team

The Crofting Law A-Team

Martin Minton, Angus Mackay, Brian Inkster, Evonne Morrison and Derek Flyn

Inksters recently strengthened their crofting law team by the addition of three new team members.

Derek Flyn joins Inksters as a crofting law consultant. Derek is one of the best known and most highly respected crofting law experts in Scotland. He co-wrote the first book on crofting law in 1990 and is currently writing a new up-to-date book on crofting law with Keith Graham. He was in recent years the Chair of the Scottish Crofting Federation and continues to be their Parliamentary Spokesman.

Derek, together with Keith Graham, produced the Crofting Law Sump Report which highlighted to the Scottish Government in 2014 all of the problem issues requiring to be addressed in crofting law. This is likely to lead to new crofting law legislation during the term of the new Scottish Government.

Derek lives in Beauly and has strong connections with the Isle of Skye where his wife comes from and where he once worked.

Derek will be assisting the crofting law practitioners at Inksters and providing them with specialist advice on complex crofting law matters.

Angus Mackay also joins Inksters. He is a legal consultant with a specialist interest in Community Empowerment, Land Reform and Renewable Energy.

Angus has worked for large commercial law firms and latterly for a renewable energy company. He will be dealing with general crofting and property transactions and giving specialist assistance in community acquisitions and renewable energy schemes.

Angus comes from the crofting township of Melness in Sutherland.

Evonne Morrison is joining Inksters as a Trainee Solicitor. Coming from Shetland she has an interest in crofting law and will be assisting the team in day to day crofting transactions/cases.

These three new team members join Brian Inkster and Martin Minton to provide Inksters’ clients with a formidable crofting law team of five.

Crofting Law A-Team

Derek Flyn, Angus Mackay, Evonne Morrison, Martin Minton and Brian Inkster

Brian Inkster has dealt with crofting law matters for over 25 years and appears in the Scottish Land Court regularly and is often called upon to provide opinions on complex crofting law matters.

Brian is the Hon Secretary of the Crofting Law Group, a member of the Crofting Group of Scottish Land & Estates, the Cross-Party Group on Crofting at the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government Crofting Stakeholder Forum, the Crofting Register Stakeholder Forum and the Crofting Legislation Stakeholder Consultation Group.

Brian is a regular contributor at crofting law conferences and blogs about crofting law on this blog.

Martin Minton is a solicitor who has been with Inksters for five years concentrating on crofting law. Martin deals with crofting property transactions and disputes. He also deals with wills and executries involving crofting issues.

Martin comes from a crofting family in Dundonnell near Ullapool.

Martin has contributed articles and legal updates on crofting law for various publications and for this blog. He is the editor of the Crofting Law Group Newsletter.

Inksters’ crofting law team provide members of the Scottish Crofting Federation with a crofting law helpline.

Brian Inkster said:-

“With the current turmoil at the Crofting Commission over their handling of issues surrounding Common Grazings Committees it is essential for crofters to receive the best possible advice that they can get. I am delighted that Inksters have assembled a crofting law A-Team that will give our clients just that.”

If you need to call in the ‘Crofting Law A-Team’ then phone Rose Sullivan on 0345 450 0123 and she will direct you to a member of the team. Alternatively e-mail the crofting law A-Team or use the Contact Form on this blog to do so.