Scotland: National Rural Network
Presentations from the plenary sessions of the Rural Gathering are now available to download from our documents library. The Rural Gathering event took place at Perth Racecourse on 25th September 2009. Around 300 delegates from across the country came together for a day of networking and discussion on a range of rural issues.
Delegates heard from high profile speakers including Richard Wakeford, Director General of Rural Futures, Scottish Government and Professor David Freshwater from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. A European perspective of LEADER came from Ute Vieting from Germany who talked about the operation and successes of the programme in Bavaria.
The afternoon session featured three short case study presentations from Here We Are, Cairndow, farmer Jane Brewster and Fintry Development Trust. Look out for short reports on these case studies coming to the site soon.
You can now download the presentations from the plenary sessions from our documents library or by using the links below:
Look out for more on the Rural Gathering coming to the site soon, including short reports from workshops, workshop presentations and forum discussions on issues raised at the conference.
Watch the Rural Network website for details of how you can get involved with the 20 Regional Events that will follow on from it. We'll also have further information and analysis of the changes in rural funding announced by the Cabinet Secretary.
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Comments
It is good to see the
It is good to see the presentations and get a small insight into the gathering. I get the impression that climate change and renewable energy featured strongly. Very worthy, but here in the real world a few truths from my perspective. Farmers are still hated, farmers who try to invest in renewables are hated even more. Planning permission is needed for the smallest wind turbine, it is a complex expensive process that takes months. I know I started a 6kw farm turbine project 3 months ago. You then have to fund the turbine I asked my bank and got the usual answer "hell will freeze over before we lend on something as new fangled and crazy as farm scale energy production". That leaves Rural Priorities it has taken weeks to gather all the data such an application requires and further weeks to await the outcome. By the time we get an answer all quotes will have expired. That is a wind project. I also looked at a hydro scheme one call to the relevant agencies SEPA SNH etc convinced me that life was too short.
As for the rural population and demographic changes I have to declare an interest. I am married to an immigrant. The experience of the migrant and the resultant children place unique challenges in the rural area. Add in mixed race and bi culturalism and we have an experience I did not recognise in any of the presentations. Rural areas are changing but are held back by planning regulation, funding and a misunderstanding of who and what we are.
Planning regulation certainly
Planning regulation certainly came up in both the workshop sessions I attended - Housing, and Agriculture and the Community. More from the Rural Gathering will be coming to the site over the next week or so, including further information on workshops, and where applicable workshop presentations.
Also, watch this space for details of 20 regional events following on from the Rural Gathering.