The Crofting Law Group has announced details of its Crofting Law Sump. The purpose of ‘the Sump’ is to gather together details of the significant problem areas within existing crofting legislation.

During the recent passage through the Scottish Parliament of the Crofting (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2013, MSPs were informed by practitioners who had been called to give evidence about the many problems  in the existing legislation that were causing difficulties for crofters, landlords and others.

Paul Wheelhouse MSP, Minister for Environment and Climate Change with responsibility for crofting, gave an undertaking that his officials would investigate, in consultation with stakeholders, what the best method might be for dealing with these outstanding issues.

The Sump has been set up to assist the Government in this process. It will be administered by Derek Flyn, retired crofting lawyer, and Keith Graham, formerly Principal Clerk of the Scottish Land Court. They will collate the issues and problems that are causing difficulties, prioritise them and indicate  how the problem can be resolved. Their Report will be made available to the Scottish Government on completion.

Brian Inkster, Hon. Secretary of the Crofting Law Group, said “this initiative will hopefully assist the Scottish Government in deciding what to do next with crofting law. It is a notoriously complex area of the law and with experts of the calibre and experience of Derek Flyn and Keith Graham the Report will be comprehensive, thorough and focussed.”

Submissions to the Crofting Law Sump will be taken up to the end of this year and should be sent by e-mail to sump@croftinglawgroup.org or can be tweeted to @croftinglawsump. Information concerning the Sump will be updated at www.croftinglawgroup.org.