Members' Business — S6M-13416 Tim Eagle: Resolving Scotland’s Rural Depopulation Crisis

That the Parliament believes that many rural communities across Scotland are facing a depopulation crisis; understands that the reasons for rural depopulation are many and varied, including a lack of affordable housing, unreliable public transport, ageing infrastructure, a lack of opportunities for young people, and the inability to easily access healthcare and education services; acknowledges the Scottish Government’s recently published Action Plan to Address Depopulation, which states that 14 local authority areas, including Argyll and Bute and the Western Isles, are projected to have population decline over the next decade; notes the belief that significant interventions are required to reverse what it considers to be the trend of rural depopulation, and further notes the calls for MSPs to work with impacted communities to implement measures that will deliver long-term stability, protection of local services and population growth.