Empowering rural communities

The summer months have particular significance for rural communities across Scotland, bringing as they do the annual agricultural shows. In the North East there are the hugely successful Turriff and Keith shows, both of which I was fortunate enough to be able to attend, which bring together people from across the region. I know that many people from Banff & Buchan will have taken the chance to enjoy themselves at these events and they are firm fixtures on the local calendar.

These are important events not just for farmers, but for the many people who travel to these shows. They are certainly significant in economic terms, but just as significantly they help to foster a greater understanding of farming and rural life. Agriculture continues to play a key role in Scottish life and the Scottish economy, but the rural economy clearly has its own unique challenges to face.

It is because of these challenges that the Scottish Government runs a variety of schemes aimed at supporting rural communities, such as the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP). Under the Rural Priorities strand of the SRDP alone, over 4,000 projects across Scotland have been supported to the tune of £338 million since it was established in 2008. This has seen the improvement and creation of recreation facilities in rural communities, vital jobs created through supporting rural businesses and work to protect and maintain Scotland’s natural environment.

Even relatively small investments can make a critical difference to the quality of life in rural areas, which is why this funding has been so important and widely welcomed. Yet it is local communities that are best place to decide what community facilities are most needed in their area and as such the Scottish Government recently announced its decision that funding for such projects would be allocated by Local Action Groups under the LEADER programme.

This move will help empower communities to make the best use of the funds available and ensure that the projects most desired by the people living there are the ones which receive funding. The SRDP still has several years left to run and will support many more schemes in that time, but this move towards greater local involvement is an encouraging one that I am sure will be welcomed by many people.

An alarming echo of the bad old days

One of the most enduring memories people have of the last time we were faced with a Tory Government in Westminster is the decision to axe free milk for school children and the storm of controversy that justifiably followed it. It is striking, therefore, that one of the first proposals from the coalition Government was to repeat the move for under fives.

Although the scheme north of the border is funded by the Scottish Government, it is a policy which is still controlled by Westminster underlining the absurdity of some of the dividing lines between devolved and reserved matters.

While the proposal may now have been stopped in its tracks, at great embarrassment to a number of UK Government ministers, it is a worrying indication of where the coalition Government’s instincts lie. It should also serve as further proof that decisions over such aspects of every day Scottish life should be made in Scotland and underlines the need for Scotland to gain power over its own affairs. On this and so many other issues, large and small, the decisions affecting people in Scotland should be made here and not by a party in Westminster that voters north of the border overwhelmingly rejected.