Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: Stage 4 Final Report

1. Rural communities: vital to Scotland’s wellbeing

Scotland’s rural areas are remarkably diverse, ranging from communities located close to major conurbations or within easy reach of a network of small-town service centres, to remote mainland, post-industrial, coastal and upland areas, to communities on Scotland’s 89 inhabited islands. These areas supply a range of natural assets critical to Scotland’s future, including energy, clean air and water, and opportunities for carbon storage and sequestration in peatlands and forests, and to Scotland’s food and energy security. Rural Scotland’s assets support health and wellbeing through access to nature and recreation. Rural areas also foster new businesses and jobs across diverse sectors, and a strong tradition of community-led development has driven innovation in local decision-making. Rural communities are central to Scotland’s heritage, identity, tourism, and renowned food and drink sector. The combination of Scotland’s notable natural assets, and local people having the resources and capacity to make the most of these assets, is key to delivering thriving rural places, and indeed to the wellbeing of Scotland as a whole.

The Scottish Government provides support for rural communities through a range of different mechanisms. This support infrastructure is vital in enhancing the proven expertise of many rural communities in innovative project and policy delivery, and in building the capacity of those communities that lack this knowledge and experience. It is also critical in addressing the long-standing challenges faced by many rural communities. Clearly articulating the role of government support in making the most of the opportunities and tackling these challenges in future is vital, particularly given the pressures on public sector budgets and the withdrawal of the state from some activities and areas.

Rural community and enterprise actions also help to support objectives across a range of Scottish Government policy domains including Community Wealth Building, community empowerment, land reform, land management for net zero, tackling child poverty, sustainable economic growth, and public service reform. By building on the existing strengths of many rural economies and communities, drawing on the extensive evidence gathered in this review, and grasping the opportunities for policy innovation and practical action, this is an ideal time to build a forward-looking, positive and facilitating support framework to enhance the future sustainability and resilience of these communities.

The type, shape and scope of future support for rural areas must take account of changing policy and socio-economic contexts, build on learning from previous interventions and take advantage of emerging opportunities, as well as seek to minimise the challenges. Buy-in from across Scottish Government and from rural and non-rural stakeholders will help to design a future support system which is coherent, transparent and effective with national benefits, features which are particularly important at a time of constrained public sector budgets.