Rural Development Programme
31 May 2007
I congratulate Richard Lochhead and welcome him to his new post.
I will concentrate on how we support communities in remote and rural areas.
Crofting and small-scale farming are essential in underpinning many rural communities in the Highlands and Islands.
I cannot speak about crofting without first paying tribute to the work that was done by Maureen Macmillan and Alasdair Morrison.
They both worked hard for their crofting constituents.
They ensured that their views were heard in the Parliament and acted on under the Crofting Reform etc Act 2007.
They were both committed to land reform and were instrumental in pushing forward that progressive agenda.
The reason why those two members were passionate about crofting is that it has helped to sustain communities in the Highlands and Islands.
Before discussing how we can continue to support crofting and farming at the edge, I will highlight the benefits of doing so.
Crofting assures a supply of affordable housing for the crofters.
In remote and rural areas, providing affordable housing is a challenge.
In more urban areas, the system of planning consents can ensure that developers provide 25 per cent of developments as affordable housing. That is not an option in rural areas.
The crofters building grants and loans scheme gives crofters access to affordable homes.
It is instrumental in getting people to stay in their communities.
We need to consider new and imaginative ways to continue to tackle the lack of affordable housing, but we cannot ignore the contribution that crofting makes in rural areas.
We must also consider new planning guidelines to make it easier for farming families to build homes on their farmland.
That enables farmers' children to take over farms so that their parents can retire, but remain in the family home.
By keeping people in farming communities, we sustain local services.
Children attend the local schools and provide the critical mass necessary to keep those schools open.
The same applies to other public services, so general practices, libraries and bin collections will all be available as close as possible to communities.
By keeping people in those communities, we support local shops and businesses, and that leads to more sustainable employment.
We all gain from vibrant rural communities.
We assume that rural areas are natural wildernesses, but that is not the case, because such areas have been managed by farmers and crofters for generations.
The roads and services that are provided for those communities ensure that the area is open for those of us who dwell in towns and cities to visit and appreciate.
As I travel around the Highlands and Islands, I am frequently awestruck by the beauty of the area; it is a huge privilege to represent the most beautiful area in the country.
That scenery attracts tourism, which also sustains the communities.
Mr Jamie Stone :
On the issue of the heart of our communities, the member was correct to mention schools. Does she also agree that the Assynt centre and Caladh Sona in Sutherland, which are centres for the elderly, should be kept open and that we should encourage Highland Council to ensure that that happens?Rhoda Grant:
Indeed we should. I am sure that Jamie Stone is aware that the Labour Party took a stand and was the only party that was united in fighting the closures that Highland Council proposed.The areas that I represent are the lungs of our country and are important to the global climate. Farming and forestry in particular have a role to play.
We need to consider how we use agricultural subsidies.
I have always found it obscene that owners of large farms with good land and access to markets receive the same support as farmers and crofters working in difficult conditions who are remote from markets.
The less favoured area support scheme has proportionately benefited larger producers.
Although I welcome the fact that that has been rectified to an extent, we have a long way to go.
I am hugely disappointed that, although Richard Lochhead said that 85 per cent of Scotland is classified as a less favoured area, he did not say how he will use the funding available to look after small communities in remote and rural areas.
Large farming businesses should receive the same business support as businesses in other industries unless they are providing community good.
Those producing at the edge should receive recognition for the social and environmental benefits that they provide.
The rural development plan needs to use modulation to address the following points.
It needs to provide an incentive to promote environmental benefits.
We need a new environmentally sensitive area scheme.
That scheme was hugely popular, especially in Shetland, and led to better practice and headage reduction.
We need to fund expertise to help small producers find local markets.
A good example of that is the good for Ewe project in Wester Loch Ewe.
Such projects, which bring together small producers, have environmental, health and economic benefits.
We need to consider how services are delivered in these communities. I mentioned housing, but we have to identify ways to ensure that all services are provided.
We need to consider ways to encourage the production of biomass and biofuels, which offer huge untapped benefits in areas where farming is less productive.
For example, it is easier to get a hazel harvest from less productive land.
We need to explore all the possibilities.
We must encourage diversification in farming, but in doing so must acknowledge the contribution made by crofting and farming in remote and rural communities to our wider environment.
We must ensure that the support that we provide brings wider benefits and that it ensures the survival of our remote and rural communities.