Land

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on the long-term management of the Crown Estate in Scotland.

The consultation opened on 4 January 2017 and seeks your views on how the Crown Estate should be managed in the future and what reforms are needed.

Four projects have recently been awarded funding from the Scottish Land Fund.

The Pairc Trust in the South Lochs area of the Western Isles, Kirkliston Village Hall Association on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Crossroads Community Hub in East Ayrshire and Cairndow Community Childcare Ltd in Argyll and Bute share in £174,638 from the Scottish Land Fund.

The Pairc Trust receives £50,621 to purchase the former Elderly Care Unit at Gravir which it will renovate to provide an affordable family home for rent.

Dumfries and Galloway LEADER Local Action Group are delighted, in a backdrop of change, to have committed £867,041.10 to a mix of community, enterprise and farm diversification projects since March 2016.

Scottish Rural Action have launched their full Manifesto for Rural Scotland.

The manifesto was released in draft form in September 2016 and was officially launched at the Scottish Rural Action AGM in Perth on 9 December.

During the second Scottish Rural Parliament event held in Brechin, Angus in October, delegates had the chance to propose changes to the wording and additions to the content of the manifesto before it was agreed on by those in attendance at the event.

Amanda Burgauer, chair of Scottish Rural Action, said:

Angus delegates, interested in driving forward rural skills in Angus, participated in a learning visit to Fife Rural Skills partnership recently.

It was really useful to hear how the work of the partnership has developed over the last few years and a number of new connections were made.  

One Angus delegate said:

"I was inspired by today's visit and see many opportunities for work to be developed in Angus."

The SRUC Rural Policy Centre has launched its Rural Scotland in Focus 2016 report.

The report provides a fast-track to up-to-date evidence and commentary on key topics of rural and national importance, in order to inform policy, practice and research.

Rural Scotland in Focus 2016 is the fourth report in the series, and was launched at an event in Edinburgh on 29 November attended by over 90 people.

A new report outlines a plan to increase the number of starter opportunities for new entrants to farming.

The ten-point action plan aims to kick start a new generation of farmers by dramatically increasing the number of starter opportunities on public land.

Five Land Commissioners and the Tenant Farming Commissioner have been selected for the first Scottish Land Commission.

The Commission will be based in Inverness and will be operation from April 2017.

The appointments, which are subject to Parliamentary approval, are as follows:

• Land Commissioners - Andrew Thin, Professor David Adams, Megan MacInnes, Lorne MacLeod, Dr Sally Reynolds
• Tenant Farming Commissioner - Dr Bob McIntosh

Scottish Ministers have selected Andrew Thin to chair the Commission.