Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: Stage 4 Final Report

Footnotes

1 LEADER (in French, Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l’Économie Rurale – translated as ‘Links between actions for the development of the rural economy’) is a bottom-up, community led approach to rural development which empowers local communities to identify priorities and lead projects to address them. For more information, see LEADER/CLLD | EU CAP Network; accessed 4/6/2026.

2 Rural Support Plan (RSP) - gov.scot; accessed 4/6/2026.

3 National Islands Plan - gov.scot; accessed 4/6/2026.

4 Island communities impact assessments: guidance and toolkit - gov.scot and Scottish Islands Data Dashboard by RESAS - Infogram; accessed 4/6/2026.

5 Rural proofing is the process of systematically checking policies, strategies and other interventions for their potential impacts on rural communities and, if potentially negative impacts are identified, modifying them to eliminate them. Public commitments to rural proofing include its inclusion in the Rural Support Plan.

6 Rural Scotland Data Dashboard and Scottish Islands Data Dashboard by RESAS - Infogram; accessed 4/6/2026.

7 The time periods for reviewing the three elements differ slightly in recognition of Scottish Rural Network and Community Led Local Development being originally established and co-financed by the European Commission (as part of Pillar 2 of the Common Agricultural Policy), with this review focusing on their delivery post-EU exit. In contrast, Scottish Rural Action was established at national level, outside the EU programme and so the review period extends back to the pre-EU exit period.

8 This is described in detail in the Review Report published in March 2026. See Appendix A for links to all outputs from the project.

9 See Appendix A for links to all outputs from the project.

10 This notion of policy coherence has been widely discussed in the academic literature. See for example Exploring policy coherence for land use transformations: The case of Scotland - ScienceDirect; accessed 4/6/2026

11 This section summarises the evidence presented in Section 3 of the Review Report.

12 This section summarises the evidence presented in Section 4 of the Review Report.

13 This section summarises evidence presented in section 5 of the Review Report.

14 A timeline and information summarising the evolution of LEADER is available online: LEADER - AEIDL; accessed 4/6/2026.

15 As of June 2026, we understand that up to five other Youth Local Action Groups are in discussion or in the process of being established.

16Fairer funding for charities; accessed 3/5/26.

17 Proposals in the Democracy Matters local government reform process may provide opportunities for refinement, simplification and/or reinforcement across community-led local plans, see Democracy Matters: route map to reform - gov.scot; accessed 3/5/2026.

18 See, for example Vibrant village halls - ACRE and Hallmark Quality Assurance Scheme | Action in rural Sussex; accessed 4/6/2026.

19 The Enabling State - A Discussion Paper - Carnegie UK; accessed 4/6/2026.

20 Future Directions in Rural Development; accessed 4/6/2026.

21 An earlier review of the evolution of rural and island policy in Scotland by SRUC is available online; accessed 4/6/2026.

22 Rural Delivery Plan: vision, strategic objectives and key performance indicators - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space; accessed 4/6/2026.

23 The current Strategic Research Programme runs from 2022-2027. A new programme is currently under development for 2027-2032. Links accessed 4/6/2026.

24 For more information, see Atterton, J. (2008) Rural Proofing in England – A Formal Commitment in Need of Review Centre for Rural Economy Discussion Paper Series No. 20 (November). Available online: Discussion Papers - Centre for Rural Economy - Newcastle University (ncl.ac.uk) (Accessed 20/4/2026); Sherry E. and Shortall, S. (2018) The Needy Rural – Does Living in a Rural Area Mean that You Are in Need? In: Halseth, G; Markey, S; Ryser, L, Eds. Service Provision and Rural Sustainability: Infrastructure and Innovation (Perspectives on Rural Policy and Planning). Oxford and New York: Routledge; Sherry E. and Shortall, S. (2019) Methodological fallacies and perceptions of rural disparity: how rural proofing addresses real versus abstract needs. Journal of Rural Studies, 68, 336-343.

25 Scottish Government (2024) Approaches to rural proofing: a review. Social Research. Report; accessed 4/6/2026.

26 Vision for Agriculture and Food - Agriculture and rural development; accessed 4/6/2026.

27 For much of the OECD’s work on the principles of rural policy, and rural proofing in particular see OECD Principles on Rural Policy | OECD; accessed 4/6/2026.

28 See for example Arnstein, Sherry R. 1969. ‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation’. Journal of the American Institute of Planners 35 (4): 216–24: A Ladder Of Citizen Participation: Journal of the American Institute of Planners: Vol 35, No 4.

29 This is an extract from a draft report from the Rural Advocate to the Prime Minister in 2006.

30 This report is available online here: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee - Reports, special reports and government responses - Committees - UK Parliament (accessed 3/6/2026).

31 Home - Elard; accessed 4/6/2026.

32 ERCA helps rural communities in Europe; accessed 4/6/2026.

33 Scottish CWB case studies; accessed 30/4/26.

34 Democracy Matters: route map to reform - gov.scot; accessed 30/4/2026.

35 An example of this data is SRUC’s Rural and Islands Insights Report 2025 and 2023; accessed 4/6/2026.

36 This differentiation of types of data was articulated by Betty-Ann Bryce from the OECD’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities in the first workshop in their recent series on the Principles of Rural Policy, with a focus on rural proofing. For more information see: The Rural Principles Series: Rural Proofing – What is Rural Proofing Intelligence?; accessed 4/6/2026.

37 Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: Reviewing approaches and tools for evaluating rural community development interventions.

38 Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: Reviewing approaches and tools for evaluating rural community development interventions.