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Tories launch rural manifesto |
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Rural Affairs and Environment
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Friday, 13 April 2007 |
The Conservative Party today launched its rural manifesto for the upcoming election, including funding to ensure that rural schools do not need to close down.
It also said that it would introduce Starter Unit Pilot Schemes for new
entrants into farming, as well as relaxing planning guidelines to
enable more affordable rural housing and initiating thorough reviews of
SEPA, SNH and the Forestry Commission to cut red tape.
Leader Annabel Goldie said: “Rural communities are at the heart of
Scotland’s social, cultural and economic fabric. However, they have not
been at the heart of the Lib-Lab Pact’s policies over the last eight
years. It’s time rural Scotland got a fair deal.
“We’re going to provide a real boost for rural public services and the
rural economy. We’ll keep local rural health services local, and we’ll
introduce a new £5m rural schools support fund, so that no rural school
closes against the wishes of the local community. We’ll also extend
our affordable homes trusts to rural areas – which are often the most
in need of them – and we’ll hire more police officers to combat rural
crime.
“We’ll also help the rural economy though our business rates reduction
proposal, which will in effect abolish business rates for most small
businesses, and we’ll introduce a £20m town centre regeneration fund to
help rural towns and villages thrive once again.
“We will encourage new entrants into farming by introducing Starter
Unit Pilot Schemes and we will relax planning guidelines so that
retiring farmers can be accommodated more easily in new rural housing.
Most important is to support Scottish farmers to become price makers,
not price takers."
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 14 April 2007 )
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