Crofting: national development plan

Conclusion And Delivery

In drafting this Plan, the Scottish Government wanted to not only provide a long-term perspective for crofting, but to also address the issues that crofters raise on a day-to-day basis. At the same time, the Scottish Government needed to consider priority areas such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Accordingly, the Plan sets out what needs to be achieved in order to ensure that crofting contributes towards delivery of Scottish Government priorities, as well as preserving crofting, and its culture, for future generations.

Put simply, we need to do all that we can to ensure full occupancy and purposeful use of crofts; establish and maintain active common grazing committees; and for the land to be used to produce food more sustainably whilst cutting emissions and enhancing the environment and habitats. This will take a collective effort. Accordingly, we have tried to identify throughout the Plan the roles that different organisations, groups and individuals will need to play in reaching mutually beneficial goals. Achieving the aims and objectives of the Plan will ensure that crofting communities thrive, and that crofting remains as pertinent to our future as it does to our past.

Crofting is multifaceted, and the views and opinions within crofting circles differ greatly as do the levels of interest and knowledge in each of its parts. It is with this in mind that the Scottish Government has attempted to pitch the appropriate level of detail in each of the chapters and their corresponding actions. The future of crofting will need to be built on consensus – a consensus on how to overcome the key obstacles that we face. However, crofting has strong traditions and origins and this will present a strong foundation on which to build.

In order for this Plan to facilitate progressive change, the Scottish Government and stakeholder organisations will need to work in partnership and take ownership of the actions. Through groups such as the Crofting Stakeholder Forum the Scottish Government and others will provide progress reports and discuss implementation of the actions. That said, things are constantly evolving. Along the way it is inevitable that new and better ways of doing things will surface and that there will be a need for new or additional actions to come to the fore. As a consequence the Plan will need to be kept under review with detailed actions being added or refined as necessary.