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Information 
News
Rural update 110
11 January 2008
Catch up with the latest news from the Rural Community Gateway
http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/
To unsubscribe from this newswire email mailto:editor@ruralgateway.org.uk
EDITOR'S NOTE
Welcome to the first Rural Update of 2008, and a belated Happy New
Year! We've got lots going on on the Rural Gateway at the moment, and
now is a great time to get involved. You can take part in our Great
Rural Debate on Housing, and let us know your thoughts on the issue
of restrictive planning and affordable housing. You can vote for your
favourite monthly winner in our photo competition poll. You can find
out about the Highland post office consultation, read about a chance
to bid for a Conservation Blitz and learn about young rural film makers
up for top movies awards. Read on to find out more.
NEWSWIRE FORMAT
If you have not received this newsletter in our new format, go to My
Newsletters and select to receive the newswires in html format.
See https://secure.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi?page=33
WANT TO WIN A RURAL GATEWAY CALENDAR?
If you join our Members Directory, or update your existing entry, in
the next two weeks, you will be entered into our draw to win a great
Rural Gateway calendar, featuring our photo competition winners.
Five users will be chosen at random at 4pm on Friday 25th January 2008.
It's easy to join the Members Directory and you can choose how much
of your information is visible to other users. For example, your
telephone number doesn't have to be visible on the site. Go to your
profile to update your record and join the Members Directory.
See https://secure.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/profile.cgi?page=1
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING?
Last month we launched a new feature called the Great Rural Debate,
with housing as our first issue for debate. Derek Logie of the Rural
Housing Service and frustrated first-time buyer Ian Bailey gave their
views on the following statement: Restrictive planning is a blight on
rural Scotland, and the main cause of a lack of affordable housing.
We've had a great response so far, with comments on many issues relating to
housing, such as second homes, difficulty in buying land and finding
affordable rented accommodation.
So, let us know what you think about the statement, the issues raised
in our contributors' articles and the comments made so far. You can
also have your say by voting in our poll. Our poll will stay open
until Monday 14th January 2008.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2092
The debate is certainly timely. The Scottish Government recently put
out a new planning policy for consultation aimed at addressing the
need for more affordable housing.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2107
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE PHOTO
Our 'Living in rural Scotland' photo competition ran throughout 2007,
with monthly winners chosen by the Rural Gateway
team. Now we have all our monthly winners, it is time for you to
decide which photo deserves the title Rural Gateway Photo of the Year
2007.
You can find all 12 winners, links to more information about them,
and the online poll in our article Photo competition winner - you
decide! The poll will stay open until 21st January 2008, when we will
announce our winner.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2103
BURSARIES AVAILABLE FOR HOUSING CONFERENCE
The Rural Housing Service are offering a limited number of bursaries
to delegates from community organisations to attend their annual
conference in Birnam on 29th February 2008. The bursaries are
provided thanks to a grant from Communities Scotland.
So, if you have been following our Great Rural Debate on Housing and
want to voice your point of view at the Rural Housing Service
Conference get in touch with Derek Logie by emailing
Derek@ruralhousingscotland.org.
POST OFFICE LOCAL CONSULTATIONS
As you may be aware, the Post Office network is changing and up to
2,500 branches are to be closed. The local consultation for the
Highlands of Scotland (including the Isle of Skye) started on 8th
January 2008 and will run until the 18th February 2008. Eighteen
branches are planned for closure, and there are plans to replace 11 more
with outreach services.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2108
ATTRACTING GPs TO REMOTE AREAS
John Dove is looking for your advice on producing an information pack
to attract GPs to work in the Ardnamurchan area. If you have any
experience in producing something similar, or have any suggestions or
advice, please go to our Rural Answers area and add a posting.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/ruralanswers/
IDENTIFYING ADDITIONAL LIVING COSTS FOR RURAL AREAS
Dr Noel Smith would like your help to identify what additional costs
are associated with living in a rural area. The Centre for Research
in Social Policy and York University are currently finalising a
project commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to develop
minimum income standards for Britain.
They would like to meet with a rural community group - or similar -
in Scotland to map out additional costs associated with living in
rural areas. The timing is difficult, so the group needs to be meeting,
or willing to meet, in the next couple of weeks. If you know a group of
five to ten people who would be willing to take part, please contact Dr Noel
Smith at N.D.Smith@lboro.ac.uk. All participants in the group will
receive 25 pounds.
Find out more in Rural Answers: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/ruralanswers/
DOCUMENTS
Recently added documents include Post Office Ltd's Area Plan Proposal
for Highlands of Scotland, an information pack on the new Scottish
Rural Development Programme and the draft Scottish Planning Policy 3:
Planning for Housing.
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/information/documents.html
EVENTS
Recently added events include the Scottish Sustainable Development
Forum Spring Plenary. This session has the theme 'The Rural Economy
and Tourism - Contributors to a Sustainable Scotland?'. You can also
find details of an Applied Suicide Prevention training course being
held in Inverness in March 2008.
For these and more events see: http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/information/events.html
WEB OF MONTH
The first website of the month in 2008 is the RSPB's Big Gardenwatch
site. The largest bird survey in the world will take place on 26th
and 27th January 2008, and the schools version runs from 21st January
to 1st February 2008.
See http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/
FUNDING NEWSWIRE
If you need to know about funding, sign up for our very popular
Funding latest newswire, produced by Sandra Hogg, our resident
funding expert. Remember to select to receive them in html format.
See https://secure.ruralgateway.org.uk/cgi-bin/profile.cgi?page=1
THANK YOU
Thanks to Adrian Gould, Rob Kay, Derek Logie, Ian Bailey, Direct
Payments Caledonia, Charmian Lake, Andrew Rodger, Maggi Kaye, Fiona
MacNab, John Dove, Les Sharp, Morna Small, Lloyd Gudgeon, Bill
Mitchell, Geoff Crolley, Daye Tucker, Bruce Wares, Roslyn MacPherson,
Chrissie Sugden, Mike George, Shiela Quillin, Brian Marden, Gene
MacDonald, Dr Noel Smith and more for their recent comments and
contributions.
TOP STORIES
Photo competition online poll - you decide
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2103
Great Rural Debate on Housing
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2092
Highland post office proposed closures
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2108
SRDP meetings in Cairngorms National Park
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2106
Rural film makers up for top movie awards
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2110
Do you need a Conservation Blitz?
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2109
New planning policy encourages councils to release more land
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2107
Review of the Year 2007
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2105
Funding latest 53
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2095
Special report: Direct payments and self-directed support
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2097
Off the shelf - December 2007
See http://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/item/2102
CONTACT US
We are always happy to hear from Rural Gateway users, so please feel
free to email editor@ruralgateway.org.uk with any comments or
suggestions.
Best wishes
Norette Ferns
Copyright 2007 Rural Community Gateway. The Rural Community Gateway
is a Scottish Government initiative, designed and developed by online
community specialists Sift with content and editorial services
provided by the Rural Communities Team of the Scottish Council for
Voluntary Organisations.
- Source
- Rural Gateway
- Date
- 11-Jan-2008
- Categories
- Newsletter Archive