Crofters come up with cheap homes idea

[tliouk]

CROFTERS COME UP WITH CHEAP HOMES IDEA  
by ANGUS MACDONALD
taken from http://www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk
11th December 2004  

Crofters in Badenoch have called for money to be made available to 
renovate croft and farm houses to create much needed affordable 
homes. 

They have called on the Crofters Commission and the Cairngorms 
National Park Authority to come up with a financial package for the 
conversions and then to make them available for rent to low-income 
tenants.

Vivian Montgomery, secretary of the Cairngorms Crofting Community 
Association, said: "There are a large number of old croft houses 
lying empty, which are still structurally sound. The crofters have 
built new houses elsewhere on their land. There is a growing demand 
for housing and the Crofters Commission has said that it wants the 
crofting community to play its part in meeting that demand.

"So far, the idea appears to be that areas of the common grazing will 
be given up for new housing. I think what they should do is to 
provide financial grant and loan packages to the crofters for the old 
houses to be renovated. The stipulation could be that these houses 
are then offered at affordable rents to people on low incomes who 
have no hope of putting together the money to build their own houses."

George Grant, vice chairman of the association, said: "Farmers and 
landowners in this area also have a lot of derelict cottages on their 
land."

"They should also be encouraged to bring these back into use. There 
is probably no incentive for them to do that, because building plots 
at the moment are selling for £130,000.

"If that carries on the whole nature of the countryside here is going 
to change. Landowners should also be asked to give up a few of their 
redundant acres for housing, rather than ask crofters for croft 
grazing land that is already in scarce supply."

The Cairngorms National Park has a significant area of land under 
crofting tenure, and like the rest of rural Scotland, it suffers from 
high house prices.

Andrew Thin, convener of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, 
said : "With the introduction of the forthcoming Draft Crofting 
Reform Bill, new areas of land could come under crofting tenure or 
large crofts subdivided, giving an increasing number of people the 
chance to run a small croft holding and build an affordable home on 
the land at the same time."

Andrew Thin said he would like to see the park used to pilot 
innovative solutions to such problems and that crofting tenure could 
be used to create new croft holdings on publicly-owned land or land 
bought for this purpose by communities through the new community 
right to buy.
 
Ref: http://www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?
nodeId=149664&command=displayContent&sourceNode=149490&contentPK=11473
454



PRESS RELEASE FROM CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK 
Date: 12 November 2004 
Ref: http://www.cairngorms.co.uk/news/release.php?releaseID=60


CNPA CONVENER OUTLINES VALUE OF CROFTING TENURE TO FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 
IN THE CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK 

The Convener of the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) is 
calling for a debate on how the new crofting legislation could help 
to solve rural Scotland's housing crisis. 

Speaking to representatives from the Crofters Commission and SEERAD 
in Aviemore earlier this week (9 November), Andrew Thin expressed his 
desire to explore how crofting tenure could become a key policy tool 
for the Park in terms of access to land for the purpose of building 
an affordable home.
 
He said: "Crofting tenure has ensured the sustainability of 
communities in the Highlands and Islands for many decades. The need 
for access to land for local people, and especially for the less well 
off, is no less today than is was at the time of the Napier 
commission all those years ago, but circumstances in other ways have 
changed very considerably. 

"Crofting is often seen only as a rather quaint and romantic form of 
land use but the legislation that underpins crofting tenure is 
potentially as relevant today as it has ever been. 

"With the introduction of the forthcoming Draft Crofting Reform Bill, 
new areas of land could come under crofting tenure or large crofts 
subdivided, giving an increasing number people the chance to run a 
small croft holding and build an affordable home on the land at the 
same time." 

The Cairngorms National Park is unique in that is the only National 
Park in the world with a significant area of land under crofting 
tenure, and like the rest of rural Scotland, it suffers from high 
house prices.
 
Andrew Thin would like to see the Park used to pilot innovative 
solutions to such problems and sees crofting tenure as a unique 
opportunity to create new croft holdings on publicly owned land or 
land bought for this purpose by communities through the new community 
right to buy. 

"Private landowners may not be all that keen to create new croft 
holdings but publicly owned land - for example land that is in the 
ownership of a Government body or a community trust - could offer 
many benefits, both for the crofter and in terms of the 
organisation's own coffers," he said. 

"As far as the Cairngorms National Park Authority goes, this is an 
issue that we will be building into our Local Plan and National Park 
Plan but it is still very early days and a great deal of thinking and 
talking has to take place first." 

David Green Chairman of the Crofters Commission said: "We believe 
that crofting and crofters have a significant role to play in the 
provision of affordable and other housing in the Highlands and I and 
are keen to work with the Park Authority and other public agencies in 
partnership with the local crofting community to explore what 
opportunities there are for perhaps mutual agreement on creating new 
crofts or even using some common grazings for affordable housing." 

Mr Thin's closing remarks called for further dialogue between 
existing crofters, public agencies and planners to develop further 
thinking on the value of crofting tenure to help solve some of the 
challenges faced in rural areas, not just in the Cairngorms National 
Park, but across the country. He also pointed to the possible 
establishment of a crofting steering group within the CNPA. 

Ends. 
Note to newsdesks: 
The Cairngorms National Park was established in September 2003. It is 
the UK's largest National Park at 1,467 sq miles. The CNPA was set up 
by the Scottish Parliament to ensure that the unique aspects of the 
Cairngorms - both the natural environment and the local communities - 
are cared for, sustained and enhanced for current and future 
generations to enjoy. The CNPA is designed to be an `enabling' 
organisation promoting partnership and giving leadership to all those 
involved in the Cairngorms. 

For more information contact: 
Karen Powell 
Press Officer 
Cairngorms National Park Authority 
Tel: 01479 870534 / email: karenpowell at cairngorms.co.uk / 
www.cairngorms.co.uk