Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: Scottish Rural Network, Scottish Rural Action and Community Led Local Development review report

Highlights

About this report

This report describes the fieldwork evidence collected in the Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review. The Review aimed 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. Further information about the review can be found on the project webpage: Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review.

Methods

Evidence was collected from place-based community case studies, surveys, interviews and workshops. Participants included those involved in delivering the elements of the review (staff at Scottish Rural Network, staff and directors at Scottish Rural Action, Community Led Local Development Coordinators, Local Action Group Chairs and Members), those who have interacted with these programmes, and those interested in rural development. Overall, the project involved nearly 300 distinct points of participant involvement over 2025.

Key findings

Evidence shows that Scottish Rural Network, Scottish Rural Action and Community Led Local Development were delivering to their aims and contributing towards improving the resiliency and sustainability of communities across rural and island Scotland.

Scottish Rural Network provides a useful information broker and networking role, including sharing up-to-date information about policy developments and community led activities. However, some participants identified that the profile of the Network was low, and there was a lack of understanding about its function and position within Scottish Government.

Scottish Rural Action has a unique role in the community development sector through its decentralised approach to giving a voice (or voices) to rural and island priorities. Participants who had worked with the organisation were strongly supportive of their work but identified challenges resulting from limited resources and a broad remit.

Participants were very positive about many aspects of the Community Led Local Development programme, including its flexibility and responsiveness to bottom-up local priorities and the engagement of young people, in particular through Youth Local Action Groups. A key challenge was the annual funding arrangement, which limited the scope and ambition of the programme.