Croft boundaries at Carr & Wester Keppoch: EIR release

Information requested

Any information held for Carr and Wester Keppoch, which you then kindly clarified as being information relating to croft boundaries at Carr & Wester Keppoch, including decrofting directions, information relating to shareholders in the common grazing and associated shares and apportionments granted.

Response

The Scottish Government holds records of decrofting directions applied for and granted by the Secretary of State for Scotland between 1955 – 1976. Having searched our decrofting database I have been unable to locate any entries for Carr & Wester Keppoch. However, I have located, and enclose, a croft boundary plan for Carr & Wester Keppoch, contained in the Rural Payments & Inspections Division’s farm files, which relates to a decrofting application from 1993.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the Crofting Commission is the regulatory body for crofting and holds current and historical records pertaining to crofts and common grazings, including apportionments and shareholders and the associated shares. Since 1976, the Commission has also been responsible for considering and approving decrofting applications. I would therefore recommend, if you have not already done so, contacting the Crofting Commission who may be able to assist you further. The Crofting Commission can be contacted by email at: info@crofting.gov.scot.

This exception is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about Carr & Wester Keppoch, associated common grazings and any apportionments, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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FOI 202400429236 - Information Released - Annex

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