Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: stage 2 - review of policy and delivery context

3. Wider socio-economic and policy developments in Scotland

It is important as part of the Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review that the research team is aware of the wider (non-rural) policy and socio-economic contexts in which Scottish Rural Action, the Scottish Rural Network and Community Led Local Development have operated over the last few years.

Key parts of that context include the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis (and associated rising levels of poverty and financial hardship in all parts of Scotland), public sector reform and decreasing public sector budgets, and the increasing importance of the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering a Just Transition to Net Zero. All of these have changed the way that each rural policy initiative has operated, including in practical terms (for example, from hosting face-to-face events and visits to holding meetings online), as well as in terms of the focus of their work. There are a number of wider policy developments which are of importance to this review, including in terms of land reform, community wealth building and community empowerment.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in March 2024 and is currently (June 2025) at Stage 2 in the Scottish Parliament. This Bill includes a range of measures, including a prohibition on the sale of large landholdings over 1,000 hectares until Ministers can consider the impact on the local community (which could lead to some landholdings being lotted into smaller parts), legal responsibilities on owners of large estates to show how they use their land and how that contributes to public priorities (including addressing climate change and protecting and restoring nature), and how they engage with communities through Land Management Plans, and reforms to tenant farming and small landholding legislation^[48]. The Bill also proposes an introduction of advanced notice of certain sales from large landholdings, linking to the Community Rights to Buy land and buildings. This will be supported by the ongoing (as of June 2025) review of the four Community Rights to Buy^[49] which is considering legislative and procedural aspects of the these rights. This will help to implement the current Land Reform Bill as well as existing processes of Community Rights to Buy (from the 2003 Land Reform (Scotland) Act (as amended) and the 2015 Community Empowerment Act.

The Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in March 2025, and is currently at Stage 1. Amongst other things, this Bill instructs Scottish Ministers to publish a community wealth building statement setting out the community wealth building measures they intend to take and to publish guidance on community wealth building. The Bill additionally sets out a requirement for local authorities (working with other public bodies) to publish community wealth building action plans^[50].The Scottish Government has also increased its focus on wellbeing (for example through the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, published in April 2022^[51]).

The Scottish Government continues to place emphasis on community empowerment and strengthening local governance and democracy. The Community Empowerment Act (Scotland) 2015^[52] gave community bodies new rights; a recent review of parts of the Act has been published which reiterated the Scottish Government’s commitment to empowerment of communities. This noted that flexible decision-making processes, independent budgets and the right support is needed to support community empowerment. The key next step for community empowerment will be the Local Governance Review. The Local Governance Review being undertaken jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) is focusing on exploring how communities can have greater control and influence over decisions that affect them, including by considering how powers and responsibilities are shared across national and local spheres of government. The Review has included two phases of Democracy Matters conversations across various communities (in 2019/20 and 2024), a public consultation, and input from various public sector stakeholders on alternative governance arrangements^[53].

Purchases of land and buildings from the Community Rights to Buy, and the Asset transfer legislation included in Part 5 of the Community Empowerment Act, are supported by the Scottish Government’s Scottish Land Fund. This funding source is open to rural and urban communities for land purchases, and has been delivered since 2010.

Ongoing work to implement the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019^[54] has implications for rural communities, particularly including uptake in creating Local Place Plans. These plans are led by local communities, and set out land use and spatial planning priorities. If registered by local councils and adopted as part of their local development plan, Local Place Plans will become a material consideration in planning application decisions. The Local Place Plan process has also been noted to support the production of Community Action Plans generally^[55].

It is worth noting that the Scottish Government also has funding available for community-led regeneration, including through the Empowering Communities Programme. There are two funds in this programme – the Investing in Communities Fund, with the current round from 2023-2026 (though applications are not currently being accepted), and the Aspiring Communities Fund, particularly targeted at communities in fragile and deprived areas^[56]. The Scottish Land Fund, delivered in partnership between the National Lottery Community Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (with Scottish Government funding) provides funding for urban and rural communities to own and manage land and land assets^[57]. There are also a number of island-specific funding schemes, including the £3 million Islands Programme Fund which funded 10 projects in 2024-25 to deliver critical infrastructure to island communities to help boost employment and empower communities^[58].

Tackling poverty, including eradicating child poverty, is a Scottish Government priority, alongside growing the economy, tackling the climate emergency and improving Scotland’s public services^[59]. In a rural context, research is currently ongoing to examine the trends and drivers of rural and island poverty in both the period leading up to and following the cost of living crisis.

Key policy and delivery plans of relevance to this review include:

• the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26^[60];
• the Good Food Nation Act (passed in 2022) with duties for Scottish Ministers, local authorities and health boards to produce Good Food Nation Plans and a national consultation on producing a National Good Food Nation Plan^[61];
• the National Care Service Bill (though no longer with the commitment to create a National Care Service)^[62].

Finally, there are several relevant policies from Transport Scotland, including:

• the National Transport Strategy in 2020^[63];
• the 20 year (2022 to 2042) strategic review of Scotland’s transport network performance in 2019^[64];
• the forthcoming Islands Connectivity Plan^[65].

The latter will replace the Ferries Plan and encompass ferry, aviation and fixed links as well as onward and connecting travel. It is worth noting, however, that these documents do not cover services managed by organisations other than Transport Scotland (for example, internal Orkney and Shetland ferry services).