Issue - meetings

Report by Executive Director – Development and Infrastructure Services

The 2014 Rural Policy Centre’s Rural Scotland in Focus report was published on the 2^nd of June 2014, the Committee considered a report that concerned these findings and detailed the proposed areas that  Argyll and Bute Council request  the Rural Policy Centre to look into in further detail. The Committee held a discussion on the link between these findings and recent Economic Summit and Rural Parliament which had recently been held in the area.

Decision

1. The Committee noted the contents of the report and agreed that the areas for further examination by the Rural Policy Centre should be as follows:

·         Examination of the distribution of new infrastructure funding in rural Scotland and what impact this investment is having on population growth or loss.

·         Examination of population loss in the West Coast of Scotland, the specific reasons for this and the necessary measures required to reverse this negative trend.

·         Examination of the particular economic and social issues affecting island and remote peninsular communities.

2. The Committee agreed that the  Rural Policy Centre should be advised of a  summary of the key findings of the Economic Summit and the Rural Parliament Meeting Findings from its recent meeting in Oban.

(Reference: Report by Executive Director  - Development and Infrastructure Services dated 17 October 2014, submitted)