Scotland: National Rural Network
Issue 53: 5th August 2010This week saw the launch of the Scottish Government's Speak Up for Rural Scotland consultation. This major rural consultation is the first to feature in our new Consultations section. So, if you've never responded to a Scottish Government consultation before, why not make Speak Up for Rural Scotland your first?
Rural communities across the country are being urged to Speak Up for Rural Scotland. At the start of the week, Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead launched Speak Up for Rural Scotland, a three month consultation on plans devised by the Rural Development Council to help economic recovery. And the Rural Network's new Consultations feature will play a key role in gathering views and contributions.
Speak Up for Rural Scotland includes 37 'Step Changes' from the Rural Development Council, which cover a wide range of rural issues from land use to affordable housing. We want to know what you think of the proposals set out in the consultation. What do you think are the most important step changes? Are there issues that haven't been addressed in the consultation? You can get involved with the consultation and have your say by adding your comments to the Speak Up for Rural Scotland consultation pages. To find out more about the consultation, and other ways to respond, go to Speaking Up for Rural Scotland.
A number of changes to the Rural Priorities scheme were announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead earlier this week. Changes include the transfer of the 
Community Services and Facilities option from Rural Priorities to LEADER, with £13.3 million of funding re-allocated to support the change. The autumn round of funding will have a focus on agri-environment and forestry. Any Axis One (business development) applications submitted after 2nd August will have the potential award capped at £250,000 per project. You can find out more in Changes to Rural Priorities announced.
Rural organisations, including the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association and NFU Scotland, have now responded to the Scottish Government's announcement of these changes. You can read their comments in Response Round Up: Rural Priorities changes.
Our panel of three village halls experts are ready to answer your questions in our latest Ask an Expert feature. So if you have a question about funding, legislation, volunteer management or anything at all related to village halls, send your questions to editor@ruralgateway.org.uk by 9th August. You can find out more, and meet the panel, in Put your questions to our village halls experts.
The SURF Awards 2010 are now open for entries. The awards celebrate best practice in community regeneration and are presented each year to projects judged to be doing outstanding regeneration work in some of Scotland's underprivileged communities. The closing date for entries is 12pm on Monday 20th September. Find out more in Share your success with SURF.
A major EU Rural Cooperation Fair is taking place on 23rd and 24th September at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Hundreds of delegates from across Scotland and Europe will come together to share knowledge and experience. Attendance is by invitation only. However, a limited number of places will be available to users of the Rural Network website residing in Scotland. If you're interested in attending, please let us know by emailing EUruralfair@scvo.org.uk, with your name, address and contact details and why you think it important for your local area that you should be there. More information is available in EU Rural Cooperation Fair - Hold the date.
Ayrshire LEADER are holding a workshop about the Rural Broadband Challenge Fund on 16th August from 5pm to 6.30pm. As well as finding out more about the fund, there will also be the opportunity to put your questions to IT experts and BT representatives. Registration is essential. Find out more in our Events Calendar.
The Big Lottery Fund is on tour from August to October. At the series of Big Information Days, the Big Lottery team will be helping local groups to find out how they could benefit from National Lottery funding. You can get further information in Big Lottery Fund on tour.
In our Blogs section you can find links to a range of blogs on everything from widlife to farming. Each week we'll highlight one of the blogs that feature as Blog of the Week. This week it's the turn of Enterprising Sutherland, an unofficial blog from the office of the Business Gateway in Sutherland. If you'd like your blog to be included in our Blogs section then email a link to editor@ruralgateway.org.uk.
Remember, as a registered user of the website you can add your own content directly to the site including news, bulletin board postings, forum topics and events.
You can find step by step instructions on how to add your content on the aptly named How to add content page. Content added will be included in the weekly newsletter which goes out to thousands of people across rural Scotland and beyond.
If you want to keep up with the latest news from the Rural Network then follow @SNRNwebsite on Twitter.
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