The Scottish Conservatives have today launched an action plan for rural Scotland calling for more powers and more opportunities for all.
The plan ranges from a call to accelerate the roll out of superfast broadband to increasing the number of affordable homes for families who can’t afford high rents.
Scotland is already becoming one of the most centralised countries in the western world, the party warns today, with too much power concentrated in the M8 corridor.
Today’s plan is focused on spreading power down into our towns and villages – giving communities the right to decide on windfarms in their area, and demanding a review of the Police Scotland set up.
It also is aimed at delivering more opportunities for rural areas – supporting upgrades to transport infrastructure and a balanced package of land reform proposals.
The plan is grouped into six key areas:
SUPERFAST BROADBAND FOR ALL: we plan to get all of rural Scotland online to help families, businesses and charities.
A LOCAL POLICE FORCE: we back a review of the national police force to ensure it is fully accountable to rural communities.
A COMMUNITY RIGHT TO BLOCK WIND FARMS: we will back local councils who want to put a stop to new wind farms and ensure people whose property prices dropped due to farms are compensated.
BETTER COMMUNITY TRANSPORT: buses are a lifeline for rural communities so we will boost subsidies to increase the number and scope of routes.
BALANCED LAND REFORM: we will oppose moves to erode property ownership – but we also back a crackdown on tax avoidance by landowners and support funding for communities which want to lease land for the long term.
MORE AFFORDABLE RURAL HOMES: we back incentives for rural property owners and buyers to encourage them to provide affordable housing.
The plan was launched today at the Stirling Livestock Auction, attended by party leader Ruth Davidson and enterprise spokesman Murdo Fraser.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said:
“To realise Scotland’s potential, we need policies to boost the whole country. It’s time we heard the voice of rural Scotland.
“Scotland is one of the most centralised nations in the developed world and it can seem to many that it is run entirely from within the M8 corridor.
“We want to ensure that power and opportunity is spread right across Scotland.
“That means expanding policies like superfast broadband to every home so that no matter where you live, families, businesses and communities can have a better future.”
Scottish Conservative enterprise spokesman Murdo Fraser said:
“Our plan is to hand power and opportunity back to local rural communities. Land reform is part of that but we need to think much bigger than the SNP’s narrow ideological focus.
“Take broadband. If you’re a young entrepreneur living in rural Scotland with a great idea for a new start-up tech business, you shouldn’t have to go to the city to get a decent internet connection.
“So our priority for rural Scotland is to accelerate the roll out of superfast broadband to 95 per cent of homes in rural Scotland.
“We’ve delivered rural broadband for 200,000 homes in Scotland in the last five years, but we need to do much more.
“On law and order, people need to feel like their local community is being respected. So we back a review of the national police force to ensure we don’t have a one-size-fits-all police service.
“Let’s hand more power back to local councils. It should be up to local communities whether they want a new windfarm on their back door.
“So we support councils getting the right to block new windfarm applications – and compensation from developers for people whose properties fall in value as a result.
“On transport, we need more support for the buses that provide a lifeline for so many villages and towns. And for families who can’t afford rents in rural Scotland we want to see more affordable homes.
“On top of that, let’s have genuine land reform that works for the countryside. What matters in rural Scotland is not who owns land, but how it is used. Current land reform plans by the SNP Government are indicative of a central-belt government that doesn’t get rural Scotland.
“Our plan is for responsible land use for the long-term. The SNP’s plan to erode property rights and tax rural estates’ sporting rights will simply cost jobs and deter investment.
“We need a balanced plan which backs the principle of property ownership but which also cracks down on tax avoidance by landowners and gives support for communities which want to lease land for the long-term. That way, they can plan for the future.
“In summary, our plan is to link up rural Scotland, give communities real power, and back genuine land reform which gets the best use of our nation’s most precious natural asset.
“It’s time Labour and the SNP sat up and took notice.”
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