Rural services

Scottish agricultural charity RSABI has announced the appointment of Pauline Macmillan as its new Head of Fundraising.

RSABI provides financial, practical, and emotional support to people involved in Scottish agriculture and, with its workload steadily increasing, the new role will be vital to help ensure RSABI has the income needed to meet expected demand in the coming years.

Community Partnership Conference 2023

The conference is a joint venture between Highland Hospice, Highland Third Sector Interface and Connecting Carers, supporting the delivery of health and social care across the Highland region.

The purpose of the Conference is to promote partnership working across all sectors and to ask the third sector to:

Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) is supporting community led initiatives across Ayrshire.

Climate 4 Change Conversation: open to all Online

Are you concerned about climate change but not sure how urgent it is and how you can make a difference? Join in for a friendly, facilitated discussion to explore these questions in a short one-off session.

As the Highland and Islands Climate Festival (1-30 September) gets into full swing the environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful has published a report highlighting the impact of the first year of the Highland Community Waste Partnership.

Galloway Glens Scheme Grand Finale Event

The Galloway Glens Scheme is an initiative of Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Environment Team, funded by a range of partners including the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Over the last five years, the scheme has worked to ‘connect people to their heritage’, while boosting the local economy and supporting sustainable communities.

The National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, expected to launch next month, will seek to improve the capability of remote, rural and island Primary Care and enhance the delivery of community-based services.

Local authorities will be able to charge a premium of up to 100% on council tax for second homes under legislation aiming to increase the availability of housing.

If approved by Parliament, the secondary legislation would bring second homes into line with long-term empty homes, which can already be subject to a 100% premium on the full rate of council tax. Latest figures show that as at September 2022 there were 24,287 second homes in Scotland.

Libraries across Scotland can apply to the Public Library Improvement Fund to help finance creative projects and sustainable services.

Projects that could be supported under the £450,000 Scottish Government fund include tackling the cost of living crisis, bridging the digital divide, tackling the attainment gap for children and young people, or addressing sustainable development goals.

The Scottish Library and Information Council, administrators of the fund, will make awards in line with the aims and ambitions of its current strategy.

Scotland’s first ever National Islands Plan was published in 2019 and is now being reviewed as required by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, which may lead to the publication of a new National Islands Plan. 

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