and promotes the interests of crofting in Scotland
to secure the future of crofting.
Commission encourages crofters to effectively regulate Common Grazings
01/12/2015
The Crofting Commission is encouraging crofters to regulate their Common Grazings effectively by providing a standard set of regulations, along with detailed guidance, for Grazings Committee to use when setting out the terms of the committee.
Traditionally common grazings is land shared, mainly by crofters, predominantly for grazing stock, but also, peat cutting and a place to keep their boat. The Commission wants to encourage good shared management of common grazings to help foster stronger communities, deliver economic benefits and to reduce the likelihood of these areas being abandoned or overgrown.
Crofting Commissioner, Murdo MacLennan, explains:
“There are over 1,000 common grazings covering over 500,000 hectares across Scotland and approximately only 50% of those are protected by law by having a properly constituted grazings committee recorded with the Commission.
“We have created a standard set of regulations to give clearer guidance for committees and shareholders about how their common grazings is regulated. Grazing Regulations are a set of rules detailing the management and use of a common grazing and provide details of each person who is entitled to use the common grazing and the number of stock they are allowed to graze.
“We are urging Grazings Committees to read the guidance and template regulations to ensure they are working within the scope of the crofting legislation and that any other activities that fall outside of crofting legislation are kept separate from the duties of the Grazings Committee.
“The role of common grazings is central to the contribution crofting can make to the sustainable development of crofting communities and properly constituted grazings committees are the most effective way to safe guard the future common grazing land for the benefit of all crofters.”
More information can be found on www.crofting.scotland.gov.uk/commongrazings.asp
