The Arran Crofting Development Committee would like to hear from you!
The Arran Crofting Development Committee has recently been set up to develop crofting opportunities on the Isle of Arran. They say:
OUR VISION… What do we want to see?
The Isle of Arran has a thriving crofting community that strengthens the rural economy and benefits the environment.
OUR MISSION… To achieve this, we need to:
• Grow high-quality food locally and sustainably.
• Regenerate the land through sustainable farming methods.
• Stimulate rural skills development and craftsmanship, using local materials.
• Enable attractive and diverse livelihoods, to encourage population retention.
• Build fit-for-purpose housing for crofters.
There is currently only one registered croft on Arran and we would like to see more. For comparison:
* Around a quarter of all land in the Highlands and Islands region is under crofting tenure – that’s 12,000 crofting households, representing some 30,000 family members.
* Almost a third of households in the Highlands are crofting households. In Shetland, the Western Isles and Skye this is almost two-thirds of all households.
Over ten years ago Colonsay Community Development Company purchased land for 5 crofts with outline planning permission for houses. The crofts were offered to prospective tenants who could then build homes on the land and run enterprising local businesses… Isn’t it time we did this on Arran?
Don’t know much about crofting? For a brief intro see: https://www.crofting.org/about-scf/about-crofting/
The Committee would like to hear your views on crofting on Arran and they have set up a quick online form which you can complete here.
We are on social media, so please follow us @ArranCrofting or send us an email arran.crofting@gmail.com
What is a croft?
A croft is a small agricultural unit, most of which are situated in the crofting counties in the north of Scotland being the former counties of Argyll, Caithness, Inverness, Ross & Cromarty, Sutherland, Orkney and Shetland, and held subject to the provisions of the Crofting Acts.
Many crofts are on estates. A landlord may have many crofts on his estate. The rent paid by the tenant crofter, except in fairly rare circumstances, is only for the bare land of the croft, for the house and agricultural buildings, roads and fences are provided by the crofter himself. Since 1976 it has become more common for a crofter to acquire title to his croft, thus becoming an owner-occupier. Should he fail to reside on or near the croft, he can himself be required to take a tenant.
