Crofting: national development plan

Housing

Crofting plays a vital role in maintaining the population in rural and remote rural areas, including the retention of young people and families. Enabling more people to live on or near their croft and work their land is key. The legislative framework for crofting underpins this by placing a duty on the crofter to be resident on, or within 32km of, their croft, and to meet other legal duties such as cultivating and maintaining their croft.

Crofting legislation entitles a crofter to build a croft house on the croft, subject to planning consent. In almost every case the croft house must be provided by the crofter themselves. Due to the nature of crofting and the predominance of self-build as a means to provide housing in rural and remote rural areas, it can be challenging for crofters to access conventional forms of housing finance.

The Scottish Government is keen to continue to encourage investment in crofts and croft houses as this contributes to the economy in crofting areas, helps to halt population decline, and contributes to the sustainability of rural communities.

Croft House Grant

The Scottish Government has a track record of investment to improve croft housing. From 2007 to the time of publishing, the Scottish Government has approved over £22.1m in croft house grants for croft housing, helping to build and improve over 1,030 homes for crofters and their families.

Assistance for croft housing has evolved over the years. Support was originally comprised of a grant and loan. However, following a review, the loan element was removed and an increase was made to the grant. The current Croft House Grant (CHG) scheme was introduced in April 2016, offering grants at two rates: £28,000 and £38,000. This represented an increase from the previous scheme of between 65% and 143%. All island areas, as well as some remote mainland areas, now fall under the higher rate.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide financial assistance to those crofters who wish to build or improve their croft house, and will prioritise those who are most in need.

The current scheme allows owner-occupier crofters to apply for support, giving them parity with tenant crofters, and extends the scheme to include builds on land adjacent to, or adjoining, the croft. Furthermore, eligibility has been extended for the improvement of houses where the historical link to the croft has been removed by decrofting. This change allows active crofters to apply for improvement grants which improves existing house stocks in crofting areas.

It is important to note that the purpose of the CHG is to provide support for the provision or improvement of main residences on or near to active crofts, and not to fund second homes. Therefore care needs to be taken to ensure that crofts are more than just convenient house sites. This is important as there is already a problem within a number of rural communities where homes are being used as holiday lets or second homes. This practice is causing young people, who may wish to be become crofters, to be priced out of the local market, forcing them to leave the area.

The Scottish Government will continue to review annually the Croft House Grant scheme to assess its impact and effectiveness and ensure that it continues to provide much-needed support to active crofters.

Case Study

Hanno and Anna

"We came to crofting via a longstanding association with the west coast of Scotland and an appreciation for its landscapes, culture and people, coupled with a desire to be self-sufficient and live a balanced, and non-consumerist lifestyle.

In 2012 Hanno sailed his boat to Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula from its winter moorings in Argyll, to take up a position as the Chef at a small rural hotel. Across the road from the hotel was the Ardnamurchan Community Garden, staffed by volunteers and managed by Anna. Hanno soon became a volunteer and got together with Anna, and we have been working together ever since. In March 2015 we became owner-occupiers of our croft at Roag in NW Skye. The croft is approximately 5ha of land, running from the shoreline uphill until it meets the common grazing.

We keep dairy goats, cattle, 25 sheep, and a few pigs, and will soon be adding hens. Through the Crofting Agriculture Grant Support (CAGS) we have added fencing to help create our 0.6 ha market garden, and 0.1 ha orchard, planted with a mix of fruit trees and soft fruit bushes. We also planted 3 areas of woodland with mixed native species, one of which will be used as a range for organic laying hens, another is primarily to provide shelter to the polytunnels and the third is mainly for wildlife habitat purposes. In addition we have planted native hedging in and around the market garden to provide shelter.

We have three polytunnels, the largest of which received CAGS funding, which we use for propagation and vegetable crops. The tunnels allow us to significantly increase our vegetable output, offering tomatoes, chillies, peppers, cucumbers, French beans, peas, and herbs.

We started our Veg boxes in 2018, and also supply a few local cafes. And in the following year we used CAGS funding to build a shed. In the future we aim for the croft to support us entirely, and think that we will be able to live almost solely from croft income by 2021-22.

Since coming to Roag we have started a family, Rosie Rae was born in 2017 and Ella-Grace arrived in July 2020. In 2018, with the help of a £38,000 Croft House Grant (CHG), we started our house build – a 3 bedroom single storey, approximately 100 square metres. We did a mixed build, employing contractors to do the foundations and erect the kit frame. The build took exactly one year, and doing much of the work ourselves saved us thousands of pounds.

It has been great to see Rosie settling into her new much bigger home having had her first 21 months inside our homely, slightly cramped, caravan.

CHG and CAGS funding have been invaluable in helping us get our business and croft up and running. It is hard work on the croft with a young family but we are having a lot of fun, and we wouldn't have it any other way than living here and producing food to be eaten by the community in which we live".

One of the main priority aims of the CHG is to enable people to stay in remote parts of Scotland who might not otherwise be able to do so without grant funding. The introduction of a formal selection mechanism was considered and introduced in light of comments received in response to a public consultation.

The Scottish Government will continue to target support at those crofters and their families who would not otherwise be able to live in the remote and rural areas of Scotland, and work their croft without grant funding.

Selection Criteria

The CHG is not means-tested but is scored across a number of criteria. The scoring mechanism is designed to ensure fairness to all applicants and to ensure parity across the crofting counties. Failure to score highly on one criterion does not immediately result in an application being unsuccessful.

The asset and income assessment criteria facilitate identification and prioritisation of new entrants to crofting and younger crofters who are not yet on the property ladder, as well as those whose financial situation means the house will unlikely be built without grant assistance. The remaining three criteria focus on whether the applicant is adequately housed, what activity the applicant has carried out to date, and what the applicant proposes for the future.

The production and implementation of business plans is strongly supported by stakeholders. It is important that applicants are able to demonstrate a link to activity on the croft and that there is a clear intention to deliver economic value. The five-year business plan allows the Scottish Government to identify and prioritise applicants.

The Scottish Government will continue to monitor the use of assessment criteria, and refine parameters as necessary to ensure that the Croft House Grant scheme targets priority considerations.

House Size

The floor size specification was introduced following consultation feedback about a proposed limit on the overall cost of a house. The proposed introduction of a limit on overall costs was a response to specific concerns raised that the previous scheme was weighted to fund very large houses to the disadvantage of crofters with a lower income level.

Notwithstanding the above, current CHG floor area limits are significantly above National Standards and the average floor areas contained in National Statistics for house sizes. This gives recognition to the fact that rural houses tend to be larger on average than urban houses. The maximum floor areas offer sufficient flexibility for crofting households. On the case of medical grounds, special requirements will be taken into account, including the provision of external access ramps and accessible bathroom fittings.

Energy Efficiency

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of improving the energy efficiency of houses, and ensures that strict measures are included in all new houses and major improvement work that is supported under this scheme.

Through the Croft House Grant, the Scottish Government will continue to invest in works that improve the energy efficiency of current and future croft homes.

Case Study

Christina Simmons

"I was born and raised on a croft in West Burrafirth, Shetland. My father's time on the croft was mainly spent operating the machinery and dealing with the paperwork. It was my mother who was my main mentor when it came to working with stock. From as far back as I can remember I have always had a keen interest in livestock and all the associated tasks of crofting, which led me to study Agriculture at the Scottish Agricultural College. In March 2016, when I was 23 years old, I found myself in the enviable position of becoming a crofter, a position that many young people aspire to, having been assigned the family croft in Twatt, Shetland.

The croft itself consists of 60 acres of good quality silage ground, and an additional 70 acre park of mixed heathery hill with an area of permanent, previously improved grassland. My husband David also grew up on a croft and is a crofter in Sandness, Shetland. We are very likeminded, most of our conversations are crofting related!

In 2016 we successfully applied for a Croft House Grant, receiving a grant of £38,000, which greatly fast tracked our next milestone in life which was to build our dream home, something we had been saving for since our marriage. We were then finally in a position to progress our plans and build our 3 bedroom house on the croft in Twatt. As a time served joiner, David worked many a long day over the course of 18 months, with me at his side, to be able to call our new house 'Home'.

Originally operating as a sheep only business for the croft in Twatt, we hope to change to a beef enterprise, phasing out the sheep and increasing our cattle numbers steadily over 5 years. We mainly have Aberdeen Angus/Beef Shorthorn cows with Aberdeen Angus calves. Our plan is to increase the cattle numbers to 20 breeding cows and to finish all the young stock.

Through the summer months, the yearling beasts graze the 70 acre park which leaves the 60 acres of better ground to set-by for silage, and for the cows and calves to graze. We generally cut 30 acres for silage which yields approximately 300 to 350 bales depending on the year. Through the winter when the ground is too wet for cattle, we winter 150 of David's replacement ewe lambs on the 70 acre park. We take some of David's ewes from Sandness to flush and run to the tup on the better grazing. They stay up until Christmas when they head back to their winter pasture. Allowing us to utilise the croft year round.

Another scheme that I have relied on heavily is the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme (CAGS). When I was first assigned the croft nearly all the fencing (boundary and internal) was in need of replacement. We have responsibility for roughly 5000m of fencing for the Twatt croft alone, so we were very glad of assistance towards the cost of replacement! We have also used CAGS to reseed a number of fields and in doing so we have improved the pasture and increased yields, which has enabled us to keep the stock level we currently run.

Without a doubt we would not be where we are today without assistance from the Scottish Government. We are very grateful for the support we have received so far, and hope that it continues for others to utilise. I have achieved my goals mainly due to the local crofting community encouraging me, giving advice and lending a hand when needed. Crofting is a unique way of life for the right person with the right community minded attitude, and I feel it should not be lost nor forgotten".

Rural Housing

Rural affordable housing is an overarching issue and not exclusively a crofting issue. The strength and resilience of remote communities depends on a broader housing strategy, which is the responsibility of local authorities.

The Scottish Government recognises that good quality, affordable housing is essential to help attract and retain people in Scotland's remote and rural communities, and also that building affordable housing in rural areas presents different challenges to those in urban areas.

The Scottish Government's Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) supports the delivery of affordable housing across all of Scotland. Some elements of the AHSP have been developed further to meet the specific needs of rural and remote communities. For example, the Rural and Islands Housing Funds (RIHF) aim to increase the supply of long-term affordable housing of all tenures in rural and island areas. These funds are open to a wide range of potential applicants, including those not able to access traditional funding streams such as community bodies, rural landowners, landlords and private developers. This part of the AHSP retains flexibility to enable rural communities to develop their own housing solutions, and this enables them to take a more active role in meeting the housing needs of their community. Housing developments are currently being supported through the RIHF in a range of crofting areas, including Staffin, Rum and Applecross.

The Scottish Government's "Housing to 2040" vision and route map will set out the long-term objectives for the housing sector for the next Parliament and beyond. The Scottish Government has also made available the Self Build Loan Fund (SBLF) (currently time-limited until August 2021) to assist self-builders where they have been unable to obtain mainstream self-build mortgage finance. The fund is available Scotland-wide and supports additional housing provision across both rural and urban areas. Eligible individuals can borrow up to £175,000. The SBLF is designed to fund the construction phase of a new home. Once this is completed, the borrower will repay the loan either through a mainstream mortgage and/or by using the equity from the sale of an existing home.

The Scottish Government has appointed the Communities Housing Trust to administer the SBLF on its behalf. The loan from the SBLF will make up any shortfall in an applicant's contribution to the build cost of the property. Crofters are able to use the Croft House Grant to fund all or part of an applicant's contribution.

The Scottish Government will continue to support the delivery of affordable housing in order to meet the needs of rural and remote communities.

Planning

When undertaking any new housing project, obtaining planning permission is key. Planning permission is the consent of the local authority on a proposed building project and is in place to deter inappropriate development. The Crofting Commission is a key agency in Local Development Plans, and with its crofting expertise, acts as a statutory consultee for individual planning applications on croft land.

In liaising with planning authorities, the Commission hopes to guide council planners when considering developments on land under crofting tenure, and when drafting their development plans. Amongst other things, this helps to encourage the use of common grazing land for affordable housing or community facilities instead of using good quality in-bye land for this purpose.

In most cases, the Commission's position is that any proposed development will use the least possible amount of productive croft land.

In November 2018, the Crofting Stakeholder Forum met up with planners from the councils of Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, to discuss a wide range of planning issues and to encourage crofting stakeholders to engage with councils in the development of their plans.

Occasionally, croft land is identified as the desired site for a substantial housing development, and in these cases the proposers must apply for the Commission's consent to decroft the land, as well as the necessary planning permission. In assessing these decrofting applications, the Commission must weigh the proposed benefits to the local crofting community and the wider public interest, against the negative consequences of the loss of land from crofting. In the last four years, the Commission has consented to decrofting of land for several housing schemes, in Islay, Shetland and Strathspey, in each case allowing the construction of new affordable homes.

The Commission will continue to work in partnership with council planners, and engage with councils, together with stakeholder organisations, in the production or review of Local Development Plans.

When assessing the merits of decrofting applications which are for the purpose of the provision and development of affordable housing, the Commission will balance the impact on the interests of the crofting community and those of the wider public interest, alongside the impact of the loss of the land to crofting.

A crofting tenant has an absolute right to purchase their croft house and garden ground, and an ability to purchase all or any part of their croft land. Although the purchase price of the holding is fifteen times the rent, the landlord can ask for the rent to be reviewed before purchase and can insist on a ten-year statutory clawback. A tenant crofter and owner-occupier crofter are able to transfer their tenancy and/or ownership rights in exchange for payment on the open market, with the assignation of croft tenancies being subject to Commission approval.

The Scottish Government has recently engaged with crofting stakeholders in regard to legislative change. There was a consensus among the members of the Crofting Bill Group that there is a need to establish the legal wherewithal to introduce a standard security provision for croft tenancies. The Scottish Government is in favour of this proposal and looks forward to exploring this matter in more detail once a Crofting Bill Group has been re-established.

Please see the chapter on 'Legislation' for more information.

Crofting Community Right to Buy

The aim of the Crofting Community Right to Buy (CCRtB) is to empower crofting communities and remove barriers to sustainable rural development. The CCRtB creates a regime in which a crofting community body (CCB) representing an identified crofting community, may acquire eligible croft land. It enables the CCB to buy all the land which the crofters use, including the mineral rights on and under the land, the salmon fishing exercisable from that land and, in certain tightly controlled circumstances, some additional land which adjoins the croft land.

The croft land which can be purchased includes the inbye land plus land such as common grazings over which crofting rights are exercised. It does however exclude owner-occupied crofts. CCRtB allows the purchase of all or part of the croft land and, in particular, the CCB may exclude mineral rights and salmon fishings from the purchase and, with the agreement of the owner, can lease back the sporting rights to the former owner following purchase.

Crofting communities interested in acquiring their croft land etc., should view the use of the CCRtB as a fall-back position in circumstances where efforts to acquire the land by agreement fail. The Scottish Land Fund is available to help assist all community bodies with the purchase of assets.

Summary of Actions

The Scottish Government will continue to provide financial assistance to those crofters who wish to build or improve their croft house, and will prioritise those who are most in need.

The Scottish Government will continue to review annually the Croft House Grant scheme to assess its impact and effectiveness and ensure that it continues to provide much-needed support to active crofters.

The Scottish Government will continue to target support at those crofters and their families who would not otherwise be able to live in the remote and rural areas of Scotland, and work their croft without grant funding.

The Scottish Government will continue to monitor the use of assessment criteria, and refine parameters as necessary to ensure that the Croft House Grant scheme targets priority considerations.

Through the Croft House Grant, the Scottish Government will continue to invest in works that improve the energy efficiency of current and future croft homes.

The Scottish Government will continue to support the delivery of affordable housing in order to meet the needs of rural and remote communities.

The Scottish Government's future ambitions for self-build will be set out in the Housing 2040 route map, which will be published in 2021.

The Commission will continue to work in partnership with council planners, and engage with councils, together with stakeholder organisations, in the production or review of Local Development Plans.

When assessing the merits of decrofting applications which are for the purpose of the provision and development of affordable housing, the Commission will balance the impact on the interests of the crofting community and those of the wider public interest, alongside the impact of the loss of the land to crofting.

The Scottish Government will continue to support crofting communities with any enquiries or applications under the Crofting Community Right to Buy.