MCALPINE WELCOMES MEASURES TO IMPROVE SERVICES FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES
Written by author on July 14, 2014
South of Scotland MSP Joan McAlpine has welcomed plans by the Scottish Government to set up a Rural Connectivity Commission.
The body will be established after independence to consider how to improve issues such as mobile and broadband coverage, postal services and transport links for rural communities.
It will consider how to deliver a better deal for our rural communities and businesses while also ensuring clarity for industry and stability for investors.
The Commission will work within a new Scottish regulatory landscape intended to ensure that Scotland’s vital utilities remain sustainable and that markets operate in the long-term interests of all customers.
The paper, which will be published as the Scottish Cabinet visits Wick, will also confirm that on independence, the Government will take steps to ensure that all coastal areas of Scotland, such as Caithness and Sutherland, receive 100 per cent of the net income from the Crown Estate seabed leasing revenues. The paper sets out five areas where independence would improve rural connectivity including; improved digital connectivity, fairer parcel and delivery charges, beter transport links, fairer fuel prices and achieveing the true potential of rural renewables.
Ms McAlpine said: “Our rural communities make a very valuable contribution to Scotland’s economy and have huge potential to develop even further.
“Too often people who live outside urban areas poorly served by the market and the UK Government when it comes to services vital in the 21st century. “For example – Internet and mobile coverage are becoming almost as essential as water and electricity – yet fewer than half of all households in Scotland get superfast broadband compared with 71 per cent in England. That is because the Westminster controlled regulators insist on coverage on areas of high population density. “It does not have to be like this, We could reach the standard of other small countries like the Netherlands and Switzerland, which are among the best connected in the world. “We have a quarter of Europe’s wind and wave power, half the tidal power, and the opportunity to reindustrialise our country through a green energy revolution. “I have been told that upgrading the National Grid to carry this new energy alone could create 450 direct jobs in south-west Scotland and 1500 across the country as a whole. “But – the UK Government are withdrawing support from green energy projects in response to pressure from Tory backbenchers. “With independence, we will have the powers to regulate these crucial services and to remove barriers which are holding back rural areas from achieving their full potential.
“There are opportunities to change so much for the better.”
