The Crofting Commission has successfully let five vacant croft tenancies to new entrants recently.
Four tenancies in the Western Isles and one in Torridon were terminated as the tenants were not complying with their duty to be resident and the landlords failed to let the crofts within the necessary timescales.
Applications for ingoing crofters were selected including Dennis McGonnell who is now the new tenant at 24 Gravir.
Mr McGonnell said: “I have lived on Lewis for 12 years and was always very eager to get into crofting especially working with animals.
“My plans for the croft include getting some pigs to deal with all the ferns and over growth, before reseeding and then letting some rare sheep graze happily, once I’ve fenced the boundary. I’m looking forward to getting started.”
Joseph Kerr head of regulation at the Crofting Commission, said, “We wish the new tenants every success in their ventures. The process of letting a croft tenancy can be lengthy but we are delighted that five crofts are now in the hands of new entrants, who will use the land and ensure it does not get misused or neglected.
“We have a further five crofts to let in the near future and are having ongoing discussions with landlords to take this forward.
“We are also currently in negotiations with a number of landlords where crofts are vacant or subject to a long term unresolved succession in order to seek solutions which would result in the crofts being occupied and worked.”
The crofts and new tenants are:
18 Rushgarry, Uist – successful new tenant Peter MacAskill
12 Garrygall, Barra -
24 Gravir, Lewis -
15 Cromore, Lewis -
Inn Croft, Glen Torridon – successful new tenant Emily John
Five new entrants to crofting
26 July 2017
Croftng commissioner Iain Maciver congratulates Dennis McGonnell