Tourism

The search is on for Britain's best high streets and high street heroes.

The Great British High Street Awards 2016 are now open for entries, with categories including 'Village', 'Coastal Community' and 'Small Market Town'.

This year also sees the introduction of the 'Rising Star' award for high streets that are taking their first steps turning around their fortunes.

Registration is now open for the Scottish Rural Parliament 2016 event.

The Scottish Rural Parliament will bring together 400 people to discuss the issues of greatest importance to rural communities in Scotland.

The event will be held in Brechin, Angus from 6 to 8 October and is free for most people to attend.

The community-led Lanarkshire LEADER Local Development Strategy has been launched.

The strategy sets out the priorities and objectives against which applications for funding will be assessed by the Lanarkshire LEADER Programme until 2020. A new development is the inclusion of part of the North Lanarkshire rural area to the south of Cumbernauld and east of Airdrie and Wishaw.

South Lanarkshire Council Provost, Councillor Eileen Logan unveiled the new strategy at Clydesdale Community Initiatives (CCI) in Lanark recently.

The Scottish Islands Federation (SIF) is pulling together a report on the challenges and opportunities that matter most to Scotland’s island communities and needs as many groups as possible to take part in its survey ‘Meeting the Challenges – Scotland’s Island Communities’.

The Tyne Esk LEADER Programme was formally launched at twin events -  the Haddington Show on the 2 July and the Dalkeith Show on 9 July 2016.

Both events were well attended by, primarily, famers and families and the Tyne Esk LEADER stall was kept busy answering questions and entertaining children.  LEADER LAG members as well as the staff team were on hand at the stall throughout the two days.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) wants to hear your views on nine big issues in the Park including flood management, housing and economic development.

The Big Park Big Questions consultation has been launched to gather views on the key issues to be addressed in the next National Park Partnership Plan 2017-2022 - a management plan for the Park which sets out a vision and overarching strategy for managing the area.

Almost £550,000 of LEADER funding has been awarded to projects following the first round of decision making meetings with the Dumfries & Galloway LEADER Local Action Group.

Funding of £549,901.35 has been awarded to projects with a total value of £1,250,258.26. Supported projects were varied and include both The Whithorn Trust’s Iron Age Roundhouse which explores the history and heritage of the region, as well as farm diversification funding to provide an alpaca trekking experience!

This year's SURF Awards are open for entries in five categories.

These annual awards are open to any regeneration project in Scotland that is currently in operation or has been completed within two years of the September 2016 closing date.

The award categories are:

Enjoy a taste of Scotland’s seasonal larder by joining in with the newest local food project from the Forth Environment Link (FEL). 

The Stirling Food Hub aims to bring local food to local plates by connecting more of us with locally produced food. Later this year Striling Food Hub plan to host Stirling’s Food Assembly which will allow people to click on-line and collect a selection of local seasonal treats from the Cycle Hub.

Becky Pankhurst, the FEL Food Co-ordinator said: