Up to 4,000 new crofts may soon be created, which could house 20,000 people across the Highlands and islands in the next 20 years.

Many of the new crofts will be established on some of the 1.6m acres owned by the Forestry Commission, but they could appear anywhere.

Drew Ratter, chair of the Crofters Commission, is awaiting publication of the findings of the Shucksmith committee of inquiry into crafting to produce a vision for crofting in the 21st century and define the role the commission should play.

There have even been calls for the commission to be abolished for failing to stand up for crofting interests in the face of remorseless pressure from the private housing market.

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Mr Ratter said that he accepted some of the criticism but, whatever was decided about the future role of the Crofters Commission, he was convinced that within two decades the distribution of population in the Highlands and islands would be unrecognisable.

He said: "The old crofting acts only permitted the creation of new crofts on land that was either already under croft or was contiguous to croft land. But now, under the terms of the most recent legislation that has just come into force, new crofts can be created on land far removed from existing crofting communities."

According to Mr Ratter, the new crofts would not carry the same right to buy of existing crofters, but they would have security of tenure and represent heritable tenancies that can be passed down through a family.

"It makes sense on so many fronts. There are more people wanting to live on the land than there are crofts; there is a chronic rural housing shortage, and there is a growing demand for local food production." he concluded.

(GK/NS)