Rural services

As recent celebrations marked the successful graduation of the latest participants of the SAOS (the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society) 'Growing Tomorrow’s Leaders' programme, the doors open for applications for 2024/25 from the next batch of driven self-starters keen to learn how best to embrace change and uncertainty and lead with confidence.

This week saw the publication by the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (RAIC) of the Stage 1 Report on The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill.

Scotland’s wildlife will benefit from increased protection thanks to a new law  passed by the Scottish Parliament.

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill includes a range of measures that will help tackle raptor persecution, and ensure that the management of species on grouse moors is done so sustainably and with animal welfare as a priority.

Using nature to improve resilience across land and coastal areas

Nature Connects? Taking landscape scale and connective approaches to improving resilience across land and coastal areas, a technical consultation on Scotland’s draft National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3)

About the workshop

The Chief Statistician has released figures on 2022-23 farm incomes. These show that average income increased to its highest level since 2012-13, after adjusting for inflation. Average farm income, a measure of farm profit after costs, is estimated to be £69,100 in 2022-23.

Views are being sought on proposals for the sustainable use of bioenergy, including growing crops which can be converted into electricity, heat and fuels.

Bioenergy is already a key component of Scotland’s energy system and is produced by using organic material from trees, plants and food waste as a greener source to replace fossil fuels.

Sustaining Rural Architecture

Rural Scotland is a charged landscape, alive with history and doused in myth. For city dwellers the countryside is a retreat for refuge and decompression, but it is also a place where infrastructures strain to reach and in which livings must be made.

The countryside is resistant to easy explanation and is thus vulnerable to stereotyping. How do we make meaningful work that responds to landscape and cultures that are diverse and sometimes perplexing, and what does this mean for the profession of architecture?

About Professor John Brennan

Thanks to £350,000 funding from Screen Scotland, Regional Screen Scotland (RSS) has extended the lease of mobile cinema – Cinémobile. The lease ensures the continuation of the Screen Machine service to the Highlands & Islands of Scotland until April 2026

This allows RSS further time to raise £1.4 million to commission the build of a tailor made Screen Machine to take the service into the 2030s.  

Scottish Rural Network are delighted to be working in partnership with Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and other stakeholders to deliver a national conference aimed at supporting communities manage and develop their Village Halls and Community Hubs. 

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