Rural services

Scottish Rural Action want to know what people in rural areas think about the announced closure of RBS branches across Scotland.

Scottish Rural Action will take a full range of views collected to an evidence session at Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster on 17 January 2018. They are carrying out a survey to gather views from across rural Scotland on the impact of branch closures on rural communities and their high streets.

Take the survey

Five exemplary projects have been selected as the winners of the 2017 European Broadband Awards.

The European Broadband Awards are open to all types of projects irrespective of the size, location, or technologies used. Forty-nine projects from 20 European Union countries applied for the European Broadband Awards 2017.

The European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Crețu and Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development, Phil Hogan awarded the five winners in Brussels.

The winners are:

Rural Wisdom Get-together

Outside the Box's Rural Wisdom project is exploring ways to make rural areas work better for older people. They’re holding a series of events across Scotland for anyone who is interested in this work to come together, to share thoughts, to hear from others and to build the network around the country.

They're pleased to be holding the third of these events in Lanark, hosted by their friends at Healthy Valleys.

Find out about the recent European Rural Parliament event held in Venhorst, Netherlands in this event report from Scottish Rural Action.

The village of Venhorst in Noord-Brabant did not exist until the early 20th. century when the municipality sold seven hectare plots to families wanting to settle and make a living. The nearest school was an hour’s journey away.

Woolfords, Auchengray and Tarbrax Improvement Foundation (WAT IF) are delighted to announce the signing of a Community Fibre Partnership agreement with BT which will see fast, fibre broadband extended to the Auchengray area.

Inspiring Rural Communities Together Conference 2017

The Plunkett Foundation know that rural life in the UK isn’t always easy, with the decline of vital services, the limited availability of jobs, affordable housing, public transport, adequate broadband and the rising cost of utilities, can mean for many people, living in a rural area presents a daily challenge.

Kirsty Crichton from the Scottish Rural Network reports from the recent Through A Rural Lens event held in Belfast.

Delegates from across the UK and Ireland attended the Through A Rural Lens: Rural Development and Networking Conference at the Clayton Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 14 and 15 November 2017.

Scotland was well represented by a range of organisations, as well as panel member Professor Sarah Skerratt from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).

Transport Scotland’s Low Carbon Travel and Transport Challenge Fund is now open for Round 2 applications. Energy Saving Trust administers the fund on behalf of Transport Scotland.

Public, community and third sector organisations can apply for funding under the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020 Programme to facilitate the delivery of active travel and low carbon transport hubs.

The Annual Implementation Report (AIR) of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) has been published.

Covering the first three years of the 2014-2020 Programme, the full report and Summary for Citizens can be viewed on the Scottish Government website.

Scottish Rural Action want to find out how travel issues and costs affect young people in their work, studies and personal lives.

They also want to know if the impacts are felt equally across Scotland's rural areas or if there are particular issues in different parts of the country. Scottish Rural Action are carrying out a short online survey to gather information from 16 to 26-year-olds.

In previous results on rural transport surveys, Scottish Rural Action were told:

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