Enterprise

Scotland’s specialist rural enterprise support organisation GrowBiz has launched a comprehensive directory of the country’s rural and island businesses in a bid to support and promote the rural economy.  Rural micro-enterprises across Scotland are being encouraged to sign up to access all the benefits that the directory offers.

Nearly £1.6 billion to directly support up to 5,000 jobs and tackle fuel poverty is at the heart of plans to drive Scotland’s green recovery and end our contribution to climate change.

The Outer Hebrides LEADER and EMFF (European Maritime and Fisheries Communities Fund) 2014-2020 Programmes have both supported nearly 60 unique projects thus far in the current programme.  The Outer Hebrides LEADER and Fisheries Local Action Groups (LAG) manage both programmes, which aims to develop and support community-led local development in the Outer Hebrides.   

Rural young people with a new business or social enterprise idea, or working on an established project, that will benefit themselves and their local community will have access to a series of workshops held across Scotland in April and May, launched today by the Rural Youth Project.

Projects and businesses across the country have been awarded funding from the Connect Local Regional Food Fund.

Twenty-one projects will share £95,550 from the fund to promote locally sourced food and drink. Projects include the Crail Food Festival, Lerwick fish market opening pop-up market and South Lanarkshire Food and Drink Week.

The Scottish Land Fund has awarded £1,586,398 to 11 community ownership projects.

A community development company on the island of Colonsay, population 135, has been awarded £390,000 to buy land to build affordable housing and to create a site for affordable business units. The money will be used to buy two areas of land around the settlement of Scalasaig as part of a project to build homes for island residents.

The Scottish Government has started early engagement on the development of Scotland's fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4).

The National Planning Framework is a long term plan for development and investment across Scotland.

Community Owned Shops and Pubs - Making It Easy

Has your community shop or pub recently closed or is it considered at risk? Would your community like to take action to secure its future?

A shop or a pub can be the heart of a community, taking on a role well beyond its function, yet more and more are facing closure. To ensure these vital community assets are preserved, communities from across Scotland are coming together to take their shop or pub into community ownership.

On 5 November 2019, the Scottish Government published its proposed phased work programme for reviewing permitted development rights.

It is accompanied with a Sustainability Appraisal, commissioned by Scottish Government, which sets out the likely significant environmental, social and economic effects of options for change.

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