Na h-Eileanan an Iar SNP MSP Alasdair Allan has welcomed the appointment of Rod Mackenzie as the Crofting Commission’s new Convenor.
The appointment follows on from the election of Commissioners in March and the appointment of a new Chief Executive earlier this year.
Alasdair Allan MSP commented:
“I’m glad to see the new Commission is now fully up and running with the appointment of a new convenor, Rod Mackenzie. I have written to Mr Mackenzie to offer my congratulations and express my hope that this marks a new dawn for the Commission.
“The internal conflicts around the last Commission had seriously reduced the confidence of many crofters in the Isles in the Commission itself, with many individual crofters raising their concerns with me about its actions towards the grazing committees in Mangersta and Upper Coll.
“Subsequently, the Scottish Government ordered a governance review which identified that “strong personalities, differences of opinion and incongruent individual objectives” had seriously affected the Commission’s governance and demanded urgent action to address these.
“I have confidence that we will now see a period of stability and that the Commission will be able to fully concentrate on promoting the interests of crofting and crofters.”