Scotland: National Rural Network
Connecting Rural Scotland - Promoting Rural Growth

This is the first part of the event report from the Scottish National Rural Network event in Shetland. In this part, you can find out about information updates on the Rural Network, LEADER and Rural Priorities. In Part Two, you can get information on two project presentations and facilitated discussion session.

The Scottish National Rural Network event in Shetland took place at the Islesburgh Community Centre in Lerwick on 26th May 2010.

Information Updates

Scottish National Rural Network

The first speaker for the day was Norette Ferns, Scottish National Rural Network Website Editor, who gave an overview of the Scottish National Rural Network and in particular the events programme and SNRN website. Ms Ferns' update highlighted the tools available to help rural communities, businesses and organisations to connect with each other and access a wide range of news, events and reports.

Plans for the day were outlined and it was explained that the information (presentations, reports, photos etc) generated from each of the regional events - of which there are 20 in total - would be available to view on the Rural Network website. Delegates were encouraged to make use of the website resource and to sign up to receive the regular newsletters containing the latest news on rural developments and funding opportunities.

Ms Ferns highlighted opportunities to get involved with the website as any registered user can add content directly to the site by following the guides in the How to Add Content section.

You can find out more by downloading the SNRN update presentation from the documents library.

Shetland LEADER, Thomas coutts

Thomas Coutts, the Shetland LEADER Coordinator, provided an overview of the Shetland LEADER programme which started mid way through 2008. The programme is funded by Scottish Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, and administered locally by Shetland Islands Council (SIC).

The programme has received 63 enquiries to date, with 29 approvals. £558, 582 has been committed. The Action 1 budget is almost fully committed, but the convergence budget is still open.

Thomas talked about the fairly wide range of projects that have been funded and gave several examples of projects, which included Tingwall Agricultural Museum, Unst Partnership, Skeld Waterfront Trust, Heritage Tourism Development Scheme and Global Yell ltd.

You can find out more by visiting the Shetland LEADER website.

Northern Isles Rural Priorities, glen tyler

Glen Tyler, SNH Case Officer, provided an overview of the Northern Isles Rural Priorities. The presentation started with a look at how the Rural Priorities scheme fits as part of the wider Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP). The SRDP is a £1.6 billion programme of economic, environmental and social measures designed to develop rural Scotland over a six year period to 2013. Around 40 percent of this, just over £600 million, is allocated to Rural Priorities.

Rural Priorities is a competitive scheme delivered over 11 geographic areas, one of which is the Northern Isles. The scheme combines previous rural funding programmes of Scottish Government, Forestry Commission Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage. Funding decisions are made by the Northern Isles RPAC (Regional Proposal Assessment Committee) whose members include SNH, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate, SEPA, Scottish Enterprise and local authorities. Each RPAC can set its own regional priorities for projects it wishes to cover.

In the Northern Isles, upto the end of 2009, about 300 projects have been approved. The amount of funding committed to Northern Isles is likely to be just over £18 million following the April RPAC, where another 62 projects were considered. The Northern Isle has now considered over 400 projects.

Mr Tyler gave an outline of the various areas that can be considered for funding, with some examples of approved projects. Most applications have been from agricultural businesses to help them diversify and for agri-environment measures, plus some large applications from rural communities. Applications with multiple aims will be strong (e.g. projects to diversify of restructure rural enterprise may also address climate change, or projects to address biodiversity may also include landscape options).

Help is available through Rural Priorities staff, on the website, and through Rural Direct and other agents (SRDA, SAC, Croftplan etc.)

You can get further information on the Scottish Government SRDP website, or by downloading Mr Tyler's presentation. 

Part Two

In Part Two, you can find out about project presentations on the Cunningsburgh History Hut and the Kirkhill and District Amenities Association, as well as the facilitated discussion session.

Video from the event

More on the events

The Shetland event was one of a series of 20 that took place in the first year of the Regional Coordination Service of the Scottish National Rural Network. You can get information, event reports, presentations, photos and video from events in our Rural Network Regional Events archive.

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