Laid, Polla and Port-Na-Con

Residents’ Association

 

 

Laid, 12th April 2002

Current situation in Laid

 

The Executive Committee of the Residents’ Association feels that it is necessary to issue this statement in order to clarify the present situation in Laid.

 

Primarily we would like to point out that the Residents’ Association is the only democratically elected and constituted body in Laid, also incorporating Polla and Port-Na-Con, which represents all residents of the constituted area, crofters as well as non-crofters. As defined in our constitution, a resident is a person who is listed on the electoral roll.

 

The organisations that seek to have an interest in the Laid community are:

 

            The Laid Grazings Committee

                       

which represents crofting interests. It was constituted with the aim of acquiring control of its common grazings through buying them from Durness Estate. The committee approached the Crofting Trust Advisory Service who appointed Simon Fraser to carry out a feasibility study. Despite the length of time that has passed since Simon Fraser was appointed, no information regarding the progress of the above study has been made available to the wider Laid community.

 

            The Laid Community Group

 

Following the offer on 20th November 2001 by the Durness Estate for the Laid community to acquire its land, the Laid Grazings Committee were advised that they could not be the body to pursue the buy-out. A new body (the Laid Community Group) would have to be set up in order to organise the establishment of a company limited by guarantee. On 4th December 2001 nine members of the Laid community supported the formation of a steering group. Four of the nine resigned. Having recruited one more member, the steering group has six members, however, leaving no non-crofters on the steering group.

 

            The Laid, Polla and Port-Na-Con Residents’ Association

 

was set up on 14th December 2001. Its aim is to represent both the crofting and non-crofting community as defined by the Electoral Roll. All twentythree persons on the Electoral Roll (December 2001) are members of the Residents’ Association. Elections were held and the Clerk of the Laid Grazings Committee failed to be elected to the position of Vice-Chairman.

 

 With regard to the proposed buy-out, we once again want to state that we are neither for nor against the buy-out. The subject was included in the agenda of our AGM. We expected to enter into a lengthy discussion on the subject, but it turned out to be a sixty second affair. Members of the Residents’ Association who are on the committee of the Laid Community Group did not seem to want to enter into any discussion or volunteer to provide any detailed information about the present situation regarding the buy-out. Neither the feasibility study and any consequent findings nor any details and information regarding contact and discussions with Neil Ross (Land Fund) and Simon Fraser (Solicitor) were presented to the members present.

 

We would like to point out that our membership stands at twentyfour at present, the Laid Community Group is run by six people who claim to speak for the whole of Laid, but who have not been elected or given a mandate by the people of Laid as a whole, and have failed so far to give exact details of the number of people they claim to represent or their status, e.g. whether crofter or resident or both.

 

At a meeting of the Laid Community Group on Thursday, 13th December, the question of residency was discussed and it was minuted that the Secretary expressed surprise that rules regarding residency should not be as defined in a government paper regarding the subject, but that its own rules should be made up. Clearly, this seems to indicate that a number of residents will be excluded from the voting process. A similar discussion took place at the previous meeting (4th December 2001) at which the Chairman, Kenneth MacKenzie-Hillcoat, disagreed with the legal definition of a resident as proposed by the Laid Community Group solicitor (namely entry in the electoral roll), but was of the opinion that members of the Laid Community Group could make its own decision as to who in the Laid community was eligible to vote. The Steering Committee of the Laid Community Group voted by majority to bar members of the Laid community from having a vote if they were not resident for at least nine months in any given year. Surely, this is not in the interest of MSPs, the Scottish Office or the Scottish Land Fund. In our opinion, every member of the Community should be allowed to be involved in such an important issue as the Land Reform and a possible subsequent buy-out.

 

Two members of the committee, non-crofters, resigned at this meeting (4th December 2001). The Secretary and one other Committee Member, also non-crofters, resigned shortly after the 13th December meeting.

 

At the AGM of the Residents’ Association, the Chairman of the Laid Grazings Committee stated that all of Laid should work together to achieve a common goal. The Residents’ Association totally agrees. However, working together requires an exchange of information and building of trust, similar to that which the Residents’ Association and the Durness Community Council have adopted. Neither has happened. No information whatsoever has been volunteered by either the Laid Community Group or the Laid Grazings Committee, nor has either committee ever approached the Executive Committee of the Residents’ Association for any formal discussion regarding Laid. As stated before, the Laid Community Group has failed to provide information to the representatives of the community, who are the elected members of the Executive Committee of the Laid, Polla and Port-Na-Con Residents’ Association.

 

On the contrary, the article ‘DO AS I SAY’ published in the March edition of BRATACH was a prime example of lies and slanderous misinformation spread about from Laid to various institutions, newspapers and magazines. The report stated that outside pressure had been brought in to ensure the non-election of the Clerk to the Laid Grazings Committee to the position of Vice-Chairman. At the AGM of the Residents’ Association on Saturday, 23rd March 2002, even though the correct version of events had been printed in the Northern Times in December, the Chairman of the Laid Grazings Committee / Laid Community Group, Kenneth MacKenzie-Hillcoat, refused to acknowledge that the information printed in BRATACH was false and slanderous. This was in spite of the Northern Times reporter being present at the AGM. The editor of BRATACH had been invited as well, but failed to respond. Under the circumstances, the Executive Committee of the Residents’ Association decided at the AGM not to have any contact and not to co-operate with either the Laid Grazings Committee or the Laid Community Group, until the matter has been resolved to our satisfaction.

 

Under the circumstances we would like to appeal to any official body or institution to withdraw any funding from the Laid Community Group, until this unpleasant situation has been resolved and a democratic representation of the residents of Laid has been installed.

 

 

The Executive Committee of the

Laid, Polla and Port-Na-Con Residents’ Association

 

Laid, 12th April 2002

 

 

 

 This document is maintained on behalf of laid Residents Association, mail and comments will be welcome to  webmaster@laid.org. uk

For detailed information on the area and Parish of Durness visit www.durness.org