Government letting down crofters
October 2, 2008 10:04 AM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats
Commenting after a statement to the Scottish Parliament about crofting, Liberal Democrat Rural Affairs spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said:
"Like so many others, crofters are facing extremely difficult times. They will be very disappointed, therefore, that the Minister chose not to accept any of Mark Shucksmith's recommendations in relation to the various crofting funding schemes.
"Confusingly, however, the Minister seemed unsure over whether or not the Government would be prepared to consider reintroducing the loan element to the Croft House Grant Scheme. In the formal Government response, the idea is dismissed. In answers to questions after his statement, Mr Russell seemed to take a different line.
"The decision to hand responsibility for 'strategic development' of crofting to Highlands and Islands Enterprise will be greeted, at best, with suspicion by many crofters. Given the decision by the Government last year to slash HIE's resources, this suspicion will almost certainly give way to incredulity. I remain to be convinced that crofting will rate highly on HIE's list of priorities and even the Minister conceded that HIE had their work cut out to earn crofters' trust."
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