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

Conclusion

This document has set out the wider policy and delivery context for the Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review, with a focus on the period since 2020. It described the principles of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024, including ‘enabling rural communities to thrive’, the requirement to publish a Rural Support Plan, and the parallel Scottish Government commitment to publish a Rural Delivery Plan and to adopt a rural lens approach across government (which can be contrasted with the legislative commitment to undertake island proofing through Islands Community Impact Assessments).

While the Scottish Rural Network and Community Led Local Development both have their ‘roots’ in European Union legislation (in the form of the Common Agricultural Policy) with their roles and resource-levels evolving since the UK left the European Union, this is not the case for Scottish Rural Action, with this organisation working closely with communities across rural and island Scotland to build capacity and strengthen the rural movement in Scotland. The activities of Scottish Rural Action, the Scottish Rural Network and Community Led Local Development have all evolved in the context of broader policy developments and funding decisions in Scotland, including on land reform, community wealth building and local governance and community empowerment, and in the wider UK, where the government shifted in July 2024 to a Labour administration and policy priorities have evolved in relation to agriculture and rural issues, and wider community level development.

Setting out this context is important for understanding why the three programmes being reviewed have evolved in the ways they have over the last few years, as well as how they might evolve in future.