"Rural Scotland is a great place to be and is integral to the success of our nation. This is due to our tremendous natural assets renowned worldwide - landscape, wildlife, coasts, rivers and seas - all of which deliver vital produce and services.
We are looking at a sustainable future and long term engagement of talent and energy. So please do speak up - the Scottish Government is listening."
Richard Lochhead MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment
The consultation document is available here and will open in a new tab/window.
The Consultation Process: How to Respond
We are inviting responses to this consultation paper by 25 October 2010. Please send your response and completed Respondent Information Form (RIF) to ku.vog.isg.dnaltocs|pukaeps#ku.vog.isg.dnaltocs|pukaeps using the Acrobat PDF format of the questionnaire and RIF which can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.
We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the attached Respondent Information Form as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.
All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.
Publishing responses Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public within 6 weeks of the close of the consultation, on the Scottish Government consultation web pages www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/current and in the Scottish Government Library. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SG Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.
Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence. We aim to publish an Analysis Report on the consultative response in December 2010.
Download the Respondents Information Form here
