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A dog’s breakfast’, ‘largely unnecessary’, and a ‘botched bill – criticism of the recent Crofting Bill has been widespread since it was unveiled in March.
The Crofting Reform Bill is the first piece of crofting legislation since 1886, when Gladstone passed the first Crofting Act, which gave crofters security of tenure. He intended to put an end to the numerous battles between crofters and those landlords who were attempting to deny them their traditional rights.
Crofting, as a way of life, is unique to Scotland and there are 17,000 registered crofts in the Highlands and Islands. Crofts vary in size but are all similar in the way they are run. Crofting agriculture tends to be based on the production of sheep and cattle, with crofters working the croft as sole tenant, at the same time sharing facilities such as common grazing and shearing.
Most crofters today do not make a full time living from crofting, but, over 100 years after the original Bill, it was felt that changes were required. The Crofting Reform Bill 2006 was introduced by the Scottish Executive with promises that it would streamline crofting regulations, allow more people to take up the is way of life, and secure the long term future of crofting.
However, despite a consultation period, which involved crofters and other relevant parties being asked their views, critics claim it is a poorly thought out bill. It has been slated by many sources in the media, and leading figures in crofting doubt the Scottish Executive were really listening.
According to Rob Gibson, the Highlands MSP and SNP spokesman on land reform: ‘The consultation asked certain questions, but (the Scottish Executive) only listened to what they wanted to hear. They ignored many of the crofters’ comments.’
The Scottish Crofting Foundation says its 23 suggestions put forward during the consultation period were ignored. Patrick Krause, Chief Executive of the Foundation, thinks the Bill would do more harm than good. He believes it is the thinking behind the Bill that is wrong.
‘The Bill has lots of faults,’ says Krause. ‘The main problem is that it doesn’t look at trying to create new legislation, it just adds to it. A whole new look at crofting legislation is required. The Bill was not based on any vision for crofting. It just looks at changing things without any plans or visions for the future.’
Andy Robertson, Chief Executive of the National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland, holds similar views. ‘In essence, the Bill doesn’t seem to add to or improve anything. The consensus is that all it does is increase bureaucracy and administration. More specifically, there are concerns regarding absenteeism, but I don’t believe the Bill addresses this. There is no vision about what it is intending to achieve. People are looking for a clear vision, and the Bill doesn’t do this.’
