THE Scottish Land Court has ruled in favour of a family on Colonsay

who want to buy their croft and against the Laird of Colonsay, Lord

Strathcona and Mount Royal, who does not want to sell.

Lord Strathcona cannot prevent the purchase under the 1976 Crofting

Act but sought to keep control of development by laying claim to the few

feet of grass verge at the side of the public road and retaining the

ownership of the access road.

He is anxious to prevent holiday caravans and chalets appearing on the

island, although the estate has holiday properties.

The important test case concerns the Lawson family at Kilchattan. Mrs

Anne Lawson's father was from Mull and her mother from Islay. They took

over the Colonsay croft 30 years ago and it has remained in the family

since.

Mrs Lawson and her husband, Bill, sought help from the Scottish

Crofters' Union in April 1990. Its legal advice service established that

they had a case, and they pursued it despite the risk being financial

ruin if they failed.

The Land Court's findings published yesterday revealed that the estate

wanted to influence what it considered undesirable development,

including sites for caravans.

It maintained that the croft did not extend to the public road and

that the roadside verge should remain in estate ownership after sale of

the croft. ''Any wish by the new owner of the croft land to gain access

over such a strip would necessarily involve negotiation with the estate

and the possible 'exchange of money' to complete any bargain.''

The court had never heard such an argument. ''Similar situations exist

in all original crofting townships served by a common road since 1886

but it is the first time within our judicial knowledge that such a claim

to any 'verges' has been made.''

The court then considered whether Colonsay might be a special case, or

whether such a claim could be made anywhere in the crofting counties. In

Lewis, Harris, and the Uists it ''would be a virtual impossibility to

envisage the defining of narrow strips of land between the croft and the

roads''.

When these areas had come under crofting legislation there had been no

statutory exceptions for roadside verges and neither had there been on

Colonsay. ''We are of the opinion that, in this respect, Kilchattan was

no different from any other crofting community in the Highlands and

islands.''

The estate had not mentioned this unusual claim to the Crofters'

Commission when it had granted an earlier apportionment on the croft.

''Our opinion is therefore quite clearly that any verges (if they

exist) are in crofting tenure, being either common grazing or croft land

individually tenanted . . . If the verges are in crofting tenure he (the

landlord) no longer has the sole control.

''The crofter and her successors therefore have right of access at any

point along the public road into her croft, subject of course to the

necessary local authority permission.''

On the question of the access road, the court observed that there had

been evidence that Mrs Lawson and her brother had maintained and

upgraded the road over the years. There had been no evidence that the

estate had contributed to this.

The estate had argued that they had required to use this road or track

to maintain the water supply (now defunct) that it had installed. Since

the road gave access to other properties, it regarded it as estate

property.

The Land Court was unimpressed by this. ''There was no evidence of the

landlords having previously claimed that this was an estate road and in

the previous court application for determination of Fair Rents in 1976,

there was no claim that the access was provided by the landlords.''

The court did not accept the estate's case that access should be

restricted to domestic and agicultural purposes. It found that the

applicant should be granted ''free and unrestricted right of access for

all purposes over this track''.

Lord Strathcona could not be contacted yesterday but it is understood

that he is considering an appeal.

Mrs Lawson was delighted by the ruling. Her solicitor, Mr Derek Flyn,

of Inverness, said the question of costs had still to be decided..

Later editions of the Herald yesterday gave the decision of the Land

Court but not its detailed findings.