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Copyright Miranda Geelhoed

Croft creation in Garbhad Wood, Balnagown Estate

lease/license (croft tenancies)

Balnagown Estate is currently in the process of creating three to six new tenanted crofts in Garbhad Wood, near Edderton. Through collaboration with a local community trust, the project seeks to ensure that the crofts will contribute positively to the community.

Creating new crofts in support of rural development and the local community

Balnagown Estate is a privately-owned estate of approximately 39,000 acres in size, spread across Easter Ross and Sutherland. The estate currently has about 40 croft tenancies, with shares in common grazings. The idea of creating new crofts was born when some land under an agricultural tenancy was reorganised, and the agent for the tenants had suggested that some of the land coming back to the estate could be suitable for croft creation.

Supporting the rural economy and social fabric is a key motivation Balnagown Estate for croft creation. Allowing young people to live, work and build their homes will contribute positively to the community and particularly Edderton’s small primary school. The crofting model is particularly well-suited to deliver on these aims, due to crofters’ ability to build a house, subject to planning permission, supported by the Croft House Grant Scheme.

Tenanted crofts and rural housing burdens

From the outset, Balnagown Estate has been working with the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust, a charity which aims to ensure that long-term, sustainable benefits are achieved throughout the community and the Kyle of Sutherland area. In collaboration with Balnagown Estate, the Trust ran a consultation to gauge interest in crofts and to get a better understanding, for example, of what people would pay in rent, what kind of land they are after and whether they would need a house.

The model that is proposed is one of tenanted crofts, without a right to buy or assign.  The crofts would be offered at a fixed price in order to secure the tenancy with an annual rent then charged and interested parties would submit an application laying out how they would contribute to the community. Crofting tenants would be selected with the help of the Development Trust, and with the aim of choosing tenants who would  contribute positively to the local community and school. Crofters would be expected to then de-croft a plot to build a house, but under the agreement that a rural housing burden would be attached to the plot. This means that the house can only ever be used as a primary residence, and not a holiday home. Together with crofters’ obligation to be resident on or near the croft, this provides a safeguard for keeping the house tied to the croft.

After two years of preparation, the project is at the pre-planning stage. An enquiry will be submitted to Highland Council’s planning department to identify how many houses they may allow at the location. The vision is that crofts will be created in autumn 2025.

Designing crofting townships on private land

Balnagown Estate and the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust are positive that the croft creation project will generate important benefits for the local community, in the form of affordable access to land and housing in support of repopulation.

To allow for these types of benefits in other locations, on this estate and other landholdings, Balnagown Estate has flagged the need to look at crofting with fresh eyes, and focus on creation of modern crofts that can deliver for rural development:

“There is huge potential for crofts to deliver more for local communities. Over the years, some crofts have become part of large farming operations whereas others are neglected. One issue is that you cannot build a house on every croft, for example, because some are prone to flooding. We could bring these areas back into productive use, for example, under a grazing tenancy, whilst creating new small-scale tenanted crofts with housing opportunities in other areas. Yet, the cost and uncertainty of  the legal process is an obstacle to this kind of reorganisation” – Callum Paterson, Estate Manager at Balnagown.

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