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This
measure rights an historic wrong
perpetrated in the 1880s.
It gives Arran's smallholders the opportunity
to be re-classified as crofters.
The passing of the 2007
Crofting Act by the Scottish Parliament has been hailed by local MSP Allan
Wilson as an 'historic landmark for Arran'.
'For the first time, it gives Arran's smallholders the opportunity to be
re-classified as crofters with all the attendant benefits via security of
tenure, the creation of new crofts and the extension of crofting support
beyond the traditional area," said Mr Wilson,
"A long term ambition of former MP Brian Wilson and myself, in the area of
land reform, this measure rights an historic wrong perpetrated in the 1880s
when Arran was originally intended to be included within the crofting
counties but was excluded because of lobbying in Parliament by the Duke of
Hamilton."
"Some Arran farmers still think of themselves as 'rented under the crofting
acts' when in fact their tenure is governed by the 1911 Smallholders Act,
which shares some of the characteristics of crofting legislation but
provided fewer benefits or securities," said Mr Wilson.
"It was fitting that the legislation should have been passed by the Scottish
Parliament on Burns' Day, given our national bard was himself a tenant
farmer in the eighteenth century and I'm sure he would have been the first
to have welcomed these new rights for his successors" said Mr Wilson.
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