Wider Economic Impacts in Remote Rural Areas of Scotland
This paper describes how 11% of the population of Scotland live in remote areas. That is 11% of the population live in an area that is more than 30 minutes from a population center of 10,000 people or more. Remote areas also constitute at least half of Scotland’s land mass and include more than ninety inhabited islands. Scotland’s remote rural areas, along with northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, are among the most sparsely populated in Europe. Issues pertinent to Scotland have relevance to other remote rural areas including the west coast of Norway and northern Sweden and Finland, but also other Atlantic fringe regions including Cornwall and west Wales in the United Kingdom (UK) as well as Brittany and the north west coasts of Spain and Portugal on mainland Europe. In an economic context the distinguishing aspect of a remote rural area is a lack of alternatives and choices. Travel choices are limited in mode, departure time and route. In the wider economy choices of employment, opportunities to fill vacancies and choices of supplier when purchasing goods and services are also limited. This combined with long distances of travel, the reliance of communities on what is often a single link, and the vulnerability of these links to inclement weather and subsidence, places a burden on businesses and residents in rural communities. This is explicitly reflected in government economic and transport policies which recognize both the role of transport links in sustaining remote and fragile communities and the need to achieve a better regional balance in wealth.
- Record URL:
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Corporate Authors:
Association for European Transport (AET)
1 Vernon Mews, Vernon Street, West Kensington
London W14 0RL, -
Authors:
- Laird, James
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Conference:
- European Transport Conference, 2009
- Location: Leiden Leeuwenhorst Conference Centre , Netherlands
- Date: 2009-10-5 to 2009-10-7
- Publication Date: 2009
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Web
- Features: Figures; Maps; Tables;
- Pagination: 23p
- Monograph Title: European Transport Conference, 2009 Proceedings
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Central business districts; Departure time; Economic impacts; Mode choice; Regional planning; Regional transportation; Route choice; Rural areas
- Uncontrolled Terms: Remote areas
- Geographic Terms: Norway; Scotland; Sweden
- Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01349458
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Aug 10 2011 10:42AM