Action 5
"The Executive will build upon existing research into
the cost of living and working in rural areas to assess the
effects on farming where access to main markets involves
long and difficult journeys. This work will look at the
costs of transport, storage and distribution and identify
ways of addressing them."
Progress
Existing research into costs of living and working in
rural Scotland has yet to identify any systematic rural
disadvantage which is amenable to policy intervention. To
date, the evidence shows that there are counterbalancing
advantages and disadvantages to living and working in rural
areas.
Further Work
A literature review is currently underway to look at the
disadvantage associated with the costs of property and
transport. Further research is looking at business
competitiveness indicators used in other countries to see
if they could be adapted and applied in rural Scotland.
Work is also underway to consider the feasibility of
producing indicators of rural disadvantage. This will look
at ways of identifying different categories of rural
communities to address the different policy needs of each.
It has always been acknowledged that rural Scotland is not
a uniform entity and evidence to identify the existence of
any rural disadvantage needs to reflect this fact.
Work on Action 5 is ongoing.
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