OECD Rural policy reviews, Scotland, UK DEVELOPPEMENT U Series

Rural Scotland represents an important resource for national development and growth, but large unexploited potential remains. Devolution has granted the Scottish government a high degree of autonomy in designing its rural policy, which has often been fairly centralised with a strong sectoral bias towards agriculture and environmental concerns. The analysis of rural Scotland reveals a high degree of spatial heterogeneity, calling for a flexible policy tailored to the opportunities and needs of different regions. Many of Scotland's strengths are rural in nature, including an abundant land area, rich natural and cultural resources, higher standards of living, and a stable and relatively diversified economy with good employmentand entrepreneurship indicators. In order to adapt to the opportunities and threats of its different rural regions, the Scottish approach to rural policy should evolve towards a more integrated one, capable of achieving coherence among sectoral policies while involving a wider set of stakeholders in its policy design and implementation. An agenda for reform should address land property and housing related issues, economic diversification in key emerging sectors such as tourism and energy production, service delivery improvements to both rural citizens and businesses, and actions to identify and exploit rural-urban linkages. These reforms are becoming urgent in light of the forthcoming reforms of EU CAP and structural fund policies that may affect rural Scotland in major ways. This report will be of interest to policy makers, researchers, NGOs and others active in rural development.