Crofters want Crofting Commission sackings

Crofters in Upper Coll in Lewis are demanding sackings within the Crofting Commission, accusing the body of acting illegally.

They intend to elect a new committee and called on the Scottish Government to intervene in the debacle which saw the crofting regulator disband the village grazings' committee in April in a row over the management of communal moorland.

The Crofting Commission insisted income from the sale of feus or house plots must be shared out to each individual shareholder. Money for land improvements such as fencing and drainage must be separately raised from all crofters as required, it stated.

Crofters held a meeting on Thursday to discuss their next steps in the controversy.

A statement agreed by the majority at the forum - there were no objections - demanded the Crofting Commission return control of Upper Coll Grazings to shareholders through its democratically elected grazing committee.

The crofters also want their bank book returned.

The statement said: "The evidence is overwhelming that the Crofting Commission have acted out-with their powers, their guidelines and legal advice in dismissing the Upper Coll Grazings committee and imposing a constable, who, while purporting to act for shareholders, seems to see his role as acting for the Crofting Commission in finding fault with democratically taken decisions over many years."

Crofters said they have evidence that he has been investigating their decisions over many years by contacting, without their permission, public and private organisations, in order to try and "retrospectively find reasons for the Crofting Commission’s actions, which were out-with their own guidelines" and have been the subject to criticism from the highest levels of the Scottish Government and legal profession.

"We demand to know what gave the commission the power to take over our bank account.

"We demand to know the mechanism which allows any organisation the power to take over and delete democratically appointed signatories to a bank account without the signatories knowledge or permission."

The meeting rejected the constable’s view that he has the support of the majority of shareholders.

The statement highlighted: "He has mistaken reluctant co-operation for approval.

"We agree with all the legal views, apart from the commission’s, that he has been illegally appointed, and that the commission made no attempt to elect a committee before they appointed him."

"We support the guidelines adopted by the Crofting Commission on 27 April 2015 where they state “it does not appear that the commission can directly appoint a constable as part of a disciplinary process where a committee is not carrying out its duties.”

"As a result, we call on the commission to acknowledge their wrong-doing in imposing a constable on the Upper Coll township contrary to their own guidelines and apologise for this to the Upper Coll shareholders and withdraw the current illegally appointed constable.

"We demand to know what rights an illegally appointed constable has to use village documents, obtained using the threat of legal action, for purposes other than which they were intended, by supplying information to an outside body which states it takes nothing to do with grazings committee’s finances.

"We support the views of the Minister for Crofting, and demand that the commission compensate Upper Coll grazings for making us disburse monies, when even the government states it was out-with their power to do so.

"We also demand that the commission and/or constable compensate the village for loss of money through grant schemes such as agri-environment etc which were not applied for as a result of the dismissal of the committee."

The crofters' statement adds: "We support the overwhelming vote taken at the recent meeting in Stornoway of the Scottish Crofting Federation in calling for the resignation of (Crofting Commission) convener Colin Kennedy. In his refusal to resign we ask the Government to dismiss Mr Kennedy from a position he has used to further his own ends and which he has used to embarrass the government.

"We also call for the resignation or dismissal of our local commissioner, Murdo Maclennan, as he has done nothing to assist the Upper Coll grazings when asked to do so on a number of occasions. His contribution in the whole matter has been questionable to say the least.

"We support the return to the democracy we had before the dismissal of the Upper Coll Grazings Committee who had complied with all the demands made on them by the Crofting Commission.

"We propose a meeting of shareholders on Saturday 10th September at 7pm to nominate and elect a grazings' committee. We do this in accordance with the Crofting Commission’s own guidelines as laid out in Annex A for Policy in Development Paper No 6.

"We call on the commission to apologise for the stress caused and the public querying of “financial irregularities” even after they had properly independent accounts presented to them, which showed there was no such “irregularity.”

"There is overwhelming evidence that the commission’s conduct has been improper, outwith their own guidelines and in our case vindictive, draconian, and illegal.

"We call on the minister to help us get our bank account back, support us having an elected grazings committee back in place immediately, define what the role of the commission is and how it should keep to its own public and legal guidelines to the same detail as it requires of voluntary grazings committees."

Crofters to set up grazings committee after Crofting Commission's "vindictive and illegal" actions

26 August 2016

The Crofting Commission disbanded the Upper Coll grazings committee in April