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Crofters urged to stand for election as commissioner


By Alan Hendry

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Scottish Crofting Federation chairman Donald MacKinnon.
Scottish Crofting Federation chairman Donald MacKinnon.

Crofters are being urged to stand for election as a commissioner in elections taking place in March.

The call went out today from the Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF), which says that having a democratic Crofting Commission is “a hard-won right”.

The organisation replaced the former Crofters Commission a decade ago as the statutory regulator for crofting in Scotland.

SCF chairman Donald MacKinnon said: “The Crofters Commission used to consist only of government appointments. But following the most comprehensive survey of crofters since Napier, the Committee of Inquiry on Crofting, crofters got the right to have a majority of elected members of the Crofting Commission from 2011.

“As far as I know, this is the only government agency that has a majority elected board and it is essential that crofters exercise this right.”

The commission electoral area is divided into six constituencies. One comprises East Highlands, taking in east Sutherland, Easter Ross, east Inverness and Moray, while the West Highlands constituency covers west Sutherland, Wester Ross, Skye and Lochalsh.

The others are Caithness and Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles and South West Highlands (Lochaber, Argyll and Bute, Arran and Cumbrae and the Small Isles)

Elections will take place on March 17 in each constituency where more than one valid nomination is received.

Mr MacKinnon said: “This is a crucial role to play in this unique, regulated system. It is a system of land tenure only found in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and has bestowed many benefits, not only being the core of communities in these areas but also leading the way in high nature value land use.

“We need to showcase this system as the way forward for all land use in Scotland and being a crofting commissioner gives you the opportunity to contribute directly to this.”

In order to stand for election, a completed nomination form should be submitted to the returning officer and must be received no later than 5pm on January 27. Nomination forms and other documents relating to the election can be downloaded from the Crofting Commission website.

Anyone wishing a paper copy is asked to phone the commission.


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