The Bill will simplify a range of regulatory processes, strengthen grazings committees and give the Crofting Commission more power in enforcing breaches of duties. Additionally, the Scottish Land Court will merge with the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.
Jonathan Hedges, Chair of SCF, acknowledged that, by simplifying legislation, this final Bill should be good for active crofters and the future of crofting.
“SCF has worked hard with the Scottish Government to ensure the views of our members and the wider crofting community were considered in the earlier stages of the Bill. It is a great relief that the proposals that caused the most concern in the draft Bill have been dropped, in particular the issue of removing all scrutiny of croft assignations”.
Over the coming weeks and months SCF will be examining the detail of the Bill and continuing to work with Scottish Government to ensure the best interests of active crofters are held in mind. It is already apparent that while the proposal brings many minor, yet important improvements, more comprehensive and ambitious crofting reform needs to follow in due course.
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