Scott calls for simplified funding
CROFTS and farms across Shetland will lose over £2 million a year unless the government introduces simpler funding schemes, MSP Tavish Scott claimed this week.
He said: “The government has to recognise that its rural policy isn’t delivering what we all want – support to crofts and farms.
“The environment schemes that have been good for Shetland in the past are no longer there. But these schemes were worth over £2 million a year to crofts and farms across the islands.”
He said the latest scheme – the Scotland Rural Development Programme – was hard to get into. “It is complex and many crofters and farmers tell me that, without advisors such as the Scottish Agricultural College, it’s all but impossible to deal with.”
Mr Scott has arranged a meeting between members of the local agriculture industry and ruralaffairs minister Richard Lochhead. “I want a redrawn scheme that allows small crofts easy access to funding,” he said.
