Crofting Inquiry - Rannsachadh Croitearchd

PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY COMMENTS THAT ARE DEEMED TO BE DEFAMATORY, LIBELLOUS OR INAPPROPRIATE FOR PUBLIC DISPLAY WILL BE DELETED FROM THE FORUM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

The majority view was that Community Ownership was advantageous - it allows land to become available for crofting, creates opportunities for local investment and job creation, and acts for the community rather than the individual.

Disadvantages of Community Ownership were seen to be their use of a lot of public funding, the potential for divisions and strife in local communities, and the possibility of non-crofters making decisions about crofting matters.

Regulation was felt to be needed regardless of whether the landlord was a community or an individual.

Most groups felt that individuals should retain the right to buy under community ownership.

I was under the impression that to date community land purchase has been largely funded by the lottery - not 'public funding'. It seems to me that community land ownership is the ONLY way that new crofts will be created - no landowner is going to willingly create new crofts when it would be tantamount to giving his/her land away.
Can't see how the right to buy can be retained if public money is used to buy land, since that allows people to speculate using public funds. And why do people need to buy when they have total security and can pass their crofts on to their children? Reasonable compensation for improvements on the croft should be available to crofters who need to move on however.

Any form of unilateral right for one person to dispossess another of his or her assets is as inequitable as it is iniquitous in 21st century Europe. Such a right will have a very adverse effect on the principles of sound land management, amenity tree planting, etc to say nothing of inward investment in these areas.