Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has secured a major victory for rural safety as her amendment to the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill passed unanimously in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 28th January. The amendment gives local councils the ability to operate fixed-penalty notice schemes to enforce by-laws aimed at preventing wildfires. Ms Roddick has [...]

Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has lodged an amendment to the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill, seeking to empower local councils to prevent the kind of devastating wildfires that ravaged Dava Moor last year. The amendment, due for consideration at Stage 3 on Tuesday 27th January, would allow local authorities to operate fixed penalty notice [...]

Will Labour finally back Scottish agriculture after years of Westminster attacks?   The SNP has called on the Labour Party in Scotland to back Scottish famers by pushing their London bosses to deliver for Scotland’s agriculture sector in the forthcoming Budget. The call comes after NFU Scotland set out its Autumn Budget priorities which it [...]

SNP MSP for the isles, Emma Roddick, has welcomed that Shetland Islands Council has been announced as one of the successful bidders for free school meal expansion. 17 local authorities applied to partner with the Scottish Government on the Test of Change phase of the Free School Meal programme, and Shetland was one of the [...]

Emma Roddick MSP has welcomed new Scottish Government funding to support small food and drink business in Orkney through the latest round of the Regional Food Fund. Grants of up to £5000 have been awarded to 15 innovative and collaborative projects across Scotland, with funding supporting everything from farmers markets and festivals to food tourism [...]

The Highlands and Islands is a place which constantly punches above its weight, leading in renewable energy, agriculture, and landscapes that inspire our local artists as well as those who are part of the seemingly exponential growth of visitors every year.  But increasingly, we are also constantly fighting the symptoms of depopulation. Growing up here, [...]

Emma Roddick MSP has called for a strengthening of the Land Reform Bill, which passed the first stage in Parliament last week, calling for a lowering of the threshold of the size of land that is subject to provisions in the legislation, and greater transparency on landowners. The SNP MSP said: “The reaction to the [...]

SNP MSP Emma Roddick has pressed the Scottish Government today on the reported sale of the majority of Sleat peninsula, including Armadale Castle, in Skye. The isles representative has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Land Reform, Mairi Gougeon, outlining the situation and asking her to convene a meeting of relevant stakeholders to discuss next [...]

Scotland faces unique demographic challenges. Unlike other countries in the UK, we are projected to see population decline by 2030, which cannot be overcome by birth rates alone. Put simply, we need more people to move here to live and work. This is especially true in the Highlands and Islands. Since Brexit, and due to [...]

MSP for the Highlands & Islands Emma Roddick has called on the UK Government to cooperate with the Scottish Government to ensure a Rural Visa pilot can be brought forward in Scotland.  The Rural Visa Pilot Scheme, outlined as a commitment in the Programme for Government, would allow rural communities to attract workers to the [...]