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

Editor's update: Booking is now open - more information here.

The UK National Rural Network will hold its first rural development networking conference, hosted by the Rural Network for Northern Ireland, in the Holiday Inn, Belfast on Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 March 2010. 

Funding for community services and facilities under the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) is to remain under the Rural Priorities option for the time being instead of transferring to LEADER.

Professor David Freshwater, from the University of Kentucky and OECD Rural Development Programme, gave an insightful and thought-provoking presentation called Future Directions in Rural Development at the recent Rural Gathering event at Perth Racecourse. In this report, you can get the highlights of his speech, and you can download his presentation from our documents library.

Changes to rural development funding for communities have been announced by Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead at the first ever Scottish Rural Gathering in Perth.

The Scottish Government intends to provide funding for up to 90 per cent of the costs of projects in rural communities through the LEADER programme, increasing the intervention rate from 50 per cent, with the aim of providing a boost to the rural economy.

Meeting new people, hearing about their work and sharing ideas, experiences and good practice are the best things about most conferences. And the International Rural Network Forum event in India held from 23^rd to 28^th August was no different.