Rural and Island Communities: Places of Opportunity
Rural and Island Communities: Places of Opportunity
We hear lots about the challenges and problems of living in
rural and island communities and undoubtedly there are many of these that
fundamentally impact on the lives of rural and island residents – unaffordable
housing, expensive and unreliable public transport, higher costs of fuel and
food, a lack of places for young people to meet, biodiversity decline, the list
could go on.
However, our rural and island communities are also places of
immense opportunities. They are places that may provide solutions to the
climate and biodiversity emergencies, including restoring peatlands, planting
trees and generating renewable energy. They could be locations to test innovative
technology-based solutions to overcome distance and isolation, including for
older people and those with reduced mobility, or those wishing to work from
home outside urban centres. Many communities are sites of creative
community-led and community-based solutions to increasing the supply of local
high quality, nutritious food. We know our rural and island communities are
incredibly resourceful, supportive and resilient.
We’d like to hear from you about what you think are the most
important challenges and opportunities facing your rural or island community
over the next 5 years and then next 20 years, and your views on how the
challenges could be better tackled and the opportunities delivered on. We’d
like to know what key action/s the Scottish Government or other external
stakeholders, including local authorities, enterprise companies, private sector
businesses, etc. should take to help maximise the opportunities and reduce the
challenges in your communities. How can
we think about rural and island communities in much more positive ways to
emphasise their huge contributions to society rather than focus on the
challenges.
There might be long-standing challenges to which the
community, perhaps working with external stakeholders, has developed
place-based solutions based on local resources. There may be an opportunity for
renewable energy generation or peatland restoration in your community which
will provide new job opportunities for local young people – how can this
opportunity be maximised for the benefit of everyone.
We’d be extremely grateful if you could spare five minutes of your time to complete our short survey and give us your views.
You can take the survey via this link or by scanning the below QR code.
