Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: 

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotland

Click on the above.

From the Scottish Government yesterday into complete media silence:

Plans to develop a Rural and Island Housing Grant Scheme, with an indicative budget of up to £20 million over four years, have been announced by the First Minister.

Designed to help with costs in rural and island communities, the scheme will enable people, including first-time buyers and families, to own affordable homes in the places they want to live.

Announcing the scheme at the National Farmers Union Scotland Conference, the First Minister also confirmed a package of agricultural support including £14.25 million to deliver a second round of the Future Farm Investment Scheme; tripling capital funding for small producers to £1.5 million; and £1 million for the Sea Eagle Management Scheme. In total, the draft budget will provide £660 million in support – representing the most generous support package in the UK.

https://www.gov.scot/news/securing-homes-in-rural-and-island-communities/

This comes on top of another little-reported initiative by the Scottish Government:

There are, of course, serious constraints to the extent in which Scotland can move toward the more equal societies in Northern Europe and to enjoy their correlated benefits of longer healthier lives, extremely low crime, drug abuse, mental health diagnoses and so on but the SNP has made some progress with lower rents and council tax, more social and affordable housing, four times as many real living wage employers, more police officers, teachers, doctors and nurses, per capita, a range of universal benefits such as for prescriptions, and unique benefits such as the Child Payment, free bus travel for under 22s, young carer allowances and so on.

One of the most difficult challenges has been the severe lack of affordable homes for young people in rural and especially ‘glamorous’ rural areas.

In an attempt to deal with this problem, the Scottish Government has enabled local authorities to remove the council tax discount on second homes (2017) and now to double the council tax on second homes (2024).

The result of these and no doubt some other factors, has been an almost 50% reduction in the number of second homes (see graph) since the end of the Labour era.

Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500479378/November 18, 2025johnrobertson834Edit

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: 

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotland

Click on the above.