The Scottish Crofting Foundation has welcomed the Scottish Government’s response to the Committee of Inquiry on Crofting, but asks ‘will it be enough?’
SCF Chairman Neil MacLeod said “there is a lot of good in the proposals put forward especially the intentions to encourage more new entrants, to give crofters more involvement in decision making and to reform governance and regulation. We have won some victories such as the retention of a reformed commission, the commitment to create a register and the dismissal of the residency burden, but the proposals are a bit thin in the area of making crofting more viable. We all know that regulation needs sorting out but effective regulation alone is not going to halt the decline unless it is backed up with real support measures. There have been no clear decisions yet on support such as the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme, the levelling of Single Farm Payment, directing public goods payment to activity and support to home building, but these are all under review. It is yet to be seen therefore whether the proposals for crofting reform will be backed up enough by genuine support and fair payment for the goods crofters provide”.