Open letter to Cabinet Secretary for Finance regarding support for rural businesses

General News

Scottish Land & Estates has written to Kate Forbes MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, to express concerns regarding gaps in the support for rural businesses who are negatively impacted by the current pandemic.

Letter to the Cabinet Secretary: 

Dear Cabinet Secretary,

I am writing to you as a matter of urgency regarding the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus on Scotland’s rural communities. 

During this period of unprecedented pressure, our members are working tirelessly to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their families, their employees and the communities where they live. 

Firstly, I welcome the swift action taken by the Scottish Government to address the multitude of negative impacts being felt throughout the country. We need strong leadership now more than ever to ensure rural Scotland emerges from this period with as few long and short-term negative repercussions as possible.

Scotland’s rural business sector is nevertheless facing unrelenting pressures, and evidence is already showing that the coronavirus is having a devastating effect on rural businesses. We expect this to continue to rise unless immediate action is taken. 

Given that we find ourselves in extraordinary times, support from the Scottish Government for Scotland’s rural business sector will be critical in order to protect vital rural employment and keep rural communities together. 

Shooting rates & fishing rights

Along with all other businesses, sporting enterprises or individuals who pay shooting rates or fishing rights will qualify for the 1.6% rates relief all non-domestic properties in Scotland will get and we welcome this.

However, we believe that sporting enterprises should qualify for a discretionary 100% relief where the business is able to demonstrate that it operates as a country sports and tourism business. These businesses are clearly part of the “retail, hospitality and leisure” sector. Many sporting enterprises have seen a complete drop-off in their clients and will make zero revenue this season. This has inevitably led to a fall in employment in the sector and has a wider impact on neighboring retail, hospitality and leisure businesses (accommodation, restaurants, bars, shops). 

We urge you to add sporting enterprises to the list of “retail, hospitality and leisure businesses” and to allow these businesses to receive 100% relief and be eligible for the associated grants. This will protect vital jobs in remote, rural parts of Scotland, and allow these enterprises to continue to support other businesses in their local community. 

Support for self-catering, stately homes, historic houses & tourist attractions

We are very concerned that self-catering, stately homes, historic houses and tourist attractions have not been included on the list of businesses who are eligible for the programmes in the Scottish Government Coronavirus Business Support Fund which is being administered by local authorities.

The guidance provided from the UK Government is explicitly clear that self-catering accommodation, stately homes, historic houses and tourist attractions are eligible for support. However, this does not appear to be the case in Scotland. We are deeply concerned that councils in Scotland are already interpreting the guidance provided by the Scottish Government to state that self-catering, stately homes, historic houses and tourist attractions are not eligible for the grants available. We urge you to reconsider this and rectify the matter as soon as possible. 

We have many worried members who will want to access this support to protect their livelihoods and ensure that they can resume business when this is over and continue to welcome visitors to Scotland.

Rates Relief

We request that you extend the rates relief into other business sectors - e.g. industrial, hydro, quarrying - especially when we are now in a state of lock-down. Many of our members have mixed enterprises, and while one business may not be directly affected by coronavirus, the element of one business usually supports another and therefore the impact of coronavirus is causing a chain reaction. All sectors require support. 

We are pleased that applications are now open for business grants, however in England the grants are available per property whilst in Scotland this appears to be limited to one per business. This will seriously affect rural businesses which have multiple enterprises under one umbrella. I would appreciate it if you could confirm if they will be able to get rates relief on all their eligible enterprises?

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues with you further as a matter of urgency and am happy to provide examples of the impacts experienced by our members businesses.

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Yours sincerely,
 
David Johnstone
Chairman