OFFICIALS from the Sleat General Grazings Committee have slammed the Crofting Commission's public response to their concerns as "factually inaccurate, designed to mislead the reader and deflect any criticism from the Commission".
Contrary to the Commission's claim that it had dealt with the majority of the Sleat committee's complaints regarding mistakes on the Crofting Register, Sleat chairman Alastair Culbertson and clerk Duncan MacDonald insisted that the inaccurate entries are still on the official website.
"The Commission’s response is designed to give the impression that the Crofting Commission have been proactive in working with the Sleat General Grazings Committee to address these and many other outstanding issues," said the men.
"We refute that impression, as we have had to use every means at our disposal to force the Commission to even consider reviewing our concerns and despite assurances from commissioners, the convenor, the chief executive officer and the head of regulation, these issues have not been addressed.
"The Crofting Register currently does not accurately reflect the position of our shareholders as agreed with the Crofters Commission in 2007 and the Crofting Commission at the time the agreed shareholders lists were submitted for registration. 
"That list, agreed by all shareholders and the landlord was approved for submission to the Crofting Register by all seven grazings committees involved with the Sleat General Grazings Committee and sent to the Commission on the March 12, 2015. Subsequently, the Commission or the Registers of Scotland have amended that list without any discussion or consultation with the Grazings Committee. It is those amendments that we continue to dispute, having made our rejection of the list shown on the Crofting Register clear in writing to the Chief Executive Officer of the Commission on January 7, 2016.
"We continue to call for the resignations of those who have failed to address these issues and support calls for a full independent investigation of the Commission and are prepared to submit all of our records in regard to the Commission to such an independent investigation," said Messrs Culbertson and MacDonald.