Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: Stage 4 Final Report

Highlights

About this report

This is the final report of the Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review. The aim of the review was to explore the roles and impacts of three core elements of rural community support provided by the Scottish Government: Scottish Rural Network, Scottish Rural Action and Community Led Local Development, to inform future arrangements for supporting rural communities in Scotland.

Methods

The evidence gathering in this project involved extensive engagement, with over 300 distinct points of participant involvement in 2025-26. Evidence was collected from community case studies, surveys, interviews and workshops. Participants included those involved in delivering the elements of the review, those who have interacted with these programmes, those interested in rural development, and Scottish Government policy officials.

This final report synthesises the evidence and examines the initiatives’ strategic fit with the wider policy and funding context and other public and third sector interventions. The report also provides options and practical recommendations for the roles of the three elements, in the context of Scotland’s developing rural policy. We present two ‘levels’ of recommendations, delivery recommendations and strategic recommendations.

Key Findings

The review found strong and cross-cutting participant support for community-led approaches, as delivered through Scottish Rural Network, Scottish Rural Action and Community Led Local Development. Collectively, these mechanisms enhance rural capacity, enable innovation and support more responsive, place-based decision-making. Community Led Local Development was seen as effective in empowering communities and supporting locally tailored solutions, while Scottish Rural Action played a distinctive role in articulating rural voices and lived experience within policymaking processes. Scottish Rural Network contributed through facilitating knowledge exchange and networking. We provide delivery recommendations aimed at making the most of these strengths.

The findings point to the need for a more coherent and integrated rural community support system, in which Scottish Rural Network, Scottish Rural Action and Community Led Local Development operate as complementary components with clearly defined and mutually reinforcing roles. Achieving this will require a stronger shared vision for rural Scotland, improved cross-government co-ordination, and a shift towards longer-term, more flexible funding models that support capacity as well as delivery. There is also a clear opportunity to strengthen participatory and accountable policymaking, improve data and monitoring systems, and embed rural proofing as a proactive, outcome-focused process. Taken together, these changes would enable a more strategic, joined-up, and future-oriented approach to supporting resilient and thriving rural communities.