Scottish Rural & Islands Parliament 2023

Fort William

Thank you to the 500 participants, 60+ curator organisations, 20 venues, 11 local caterers, and 2 folk bands that made the Scottish Rural & Islands Parliament 2023 a resounding success! 2023’s gathering, held across 20 thematics under the overarching theme of “village halls & community spaces” truly exemplified the spirit of community engagement and collaboration.

We discussed

WORKSHOPS

Session 1: National Islands Plan
- Outputs will feed into the ongoing review of the National Islands Plan
Session 2: Rural Poverty: achieving adequate incomes
Session 3: Village Halls & Community Spaces
Session 4: Water & Waste Water
Session 5: European Connections
Session 6: Enterprise: Access & Progression Routes
Session 7: Democracy & Local Governance
Session 8: Open Space
Session 9: Climate
Session 10: Childcare
- Outputs will strengthen network of community led childcare providers and campaigners initiated by the Scottish Islands Federation.
Session 11: Digital Connectivity
- Session fed into Audit Scotland inquiry on public sector action to understand and address digital exclusion; Scottish Human Rights Commission examination of how human rights are experienced in the Highlands & Islands, and ongoing work of Consumer Scotland.
Session 12: Land Use & Ownership

ROUNDTABLES

Roundtable: Cross Border
- Action for Rural Communities in England (ACRE), Northern Ireland Rural Community Network, SRA and PLANED (Wales) have stepped up cooperation underpinned by a Memorandum of Understanding.
Roundtable: Community Led Local Development network
- Statement on CLLD, produced during SRIP, communicated to Deputy First Minister and will be submitted to Rural Delivery Plan Ministerial Working Group and included in the SRIP response to the Parliamentary enquiry on the draft Agriculture & Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill.
Roundtable: Community Research Protocols
- Outputs will continue to be explored and refined by group of academics, community groups and researchers.

STUDY VISITS

Study visit 1: Population renewal
- Outputs will feed into the Scottish Government’s Addressing Depopulation Action Plan, as well as into the sessions of Rural Housing Scotland’s 2024 conference.
Study visit 2: Community Led Tourism
- Outputs will promote SCOTO’s Press Pause initiative and feed into Scotland Outlook 2030 through the Leadership Group.
Study visit 3: Transport Systems
Study visit 4: A Circular Economy
- Outputs will feed into the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, currently at Stage 1, and any schemes and measures that arise from it once passed.
Study visit 5: Food systems in rural and island places
- Outputs will feed into draft Agriculture & Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill via Scottish Rural Action and other partners.
Study visit 6: Energy Futures
- Outputs will promote CES Community Energy Futures programme and shape ongoing work on the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, with a focus on community ownership and community benefit.
Study visit 7: Culture
Study visit 8: Wellbeing

Great to see first hand the impact of community empowerment and the reality of seeing that it is people in and from the communities who are best fit to make a change for the future.

Just a big thank you to all who organised this tremendous event and a big well done to all those who participated and collaborated throughout. It was also fantastic to see ministers in attendance and engaging meaningfully, taking away the key messages from the delegates.

The openness to conversation and connection throughout the days, and the many opportunities for structured discussion. The experience was quite unlike anything I have participated in or attended before – and in a most refreshing way!

I really enjoyed the 3 days – much more than I thought I would. Thank you to the organisers.

Huge congratulations to all involved in running the event, I think everyone felt it was a huge success and a great opportunity to share thoughts with others on the challenges faced by our communities.

It was a great experience, being part of the SRIP. I enjoyed the debate, the conversations, and other people’s stories. And the final speech from the chair reminding us all how very lucky we are to live and work in the Highlands was excellent. We are lucky.

Thank you for all the hard work that went into a thought provoking and informative event. Was so good to have the chance to meet and share experiences in person.

It was a lovely event, and it was very clear that both organisers and attendees are very passionate about their communities and rural matters in general.

Our highlights

Community Connections

The assembly served as a dynamic platform, connecting communities across sectors and linking them with decision-makers. The exchange of ideas and experiences fostered a sense of unity and collaboration.

Thematic Diversity

With discussions spanning 20 diverse themes including poverty, food systems, digital connectivity, skills & enterprise, water & wastewater, climate, population renewal, culture, transport, democracy, and more, the event delved into the multifaceted challenges facing rural and island communities.

Information Gathering

The event successfully gathered crucial information on the commendable efforts communities undertake with minimal support, the policy, regulatory, and fiscal changes needed for progress, and the structural transformations required for sustained development.

Movement Building

The Scottish Rural & Islands Parliament 2023 fostered a sense of collective responsibility, empowerment, solidarity, and optimism. Participants left with a renewed commitment to effect positive change in their communities.

Our Curators

We partnered with some incredible curators to deliver the programme.

Our sponsors

We are very grateful to our event sponsors!