FEATURE Rural workers’ economy


n By Alan Jones


Do the extra costs of rural living place our workers on the endangered skills list?


Rural danger for the forest ranger?


The cost of living crisis continues to cause huge problems for workers and their families, but challenges are being made worse in rural areas by a lack of decent jobs, affordable housing or public transport.


The Galloway and Dumfries area of south west Scotland typifies the struggles facing local people.


People like Unite convenor Neil Grieve, who works as a forest ranger


for Forestry and Land Scotland, and lives in New Galloway, a village of just a few hundred people.


Neil sees first-hand the impact of issues affecting many parts of the UK today, including local people being priced out of the housing marked as properties are bought and turned into Airbnb or used as second – or even third – homes.


“Since Covid, house prices have increased and many are now out of


reach of local people,” Neil told Landworker.


He heard of a recent case where a house worth £280,000 before the


pandemic, sold for over half a million pounds.


South West Scotland is a beautiful part of the UK and is attracting increasing numbers of visitors as a result of the changing trend in travel in recent years, Neil believes.


Tourism is an important part of any local economy, but the increase in holidaymakers has not been matched by an increase in jobs.


There is no doubting the popularity of woodlands and forests, with millions of tourists, local people and overseas visitors enjoying the walks and breathtaking scenery dotted around the UK. They bring valuable tourist money to small towns and villages as well as helping to meet climate goals of increasing woodland cover.


But there have been warnings that the forestry industry faces a shortfall of thousands of trained workers in skills such as chainsaw


maintenance, coppicing, woodland management, hedge laying and the sale and marketing of timber.


18 uniteLANDWORKERSummer 2023


Despite worries about skills shortages, pay rates are often below the national average for the jobs which are available, making it even more difficult for local workers to afford to buy a house.


Coupled with the rising cost of food, energy, transport – in fact, everything – it’s no surprise that young people in Neil’s area move to find better paid jobs in cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.


It is a trend which Unite national officer Bev Clarkson is seeing across the UK,


in areas such as the New Forest as well as rural parts of Scotland.


“The challenges in Scotland are no different from other parts of the UK, especially the lack of social, affordable housing.


“Many young people are moving away from their local area to cities, leaving a shortage of labour.”


Jobs in agriculture and forestry are often low paid, and the work can be hard, which all adds to recruitment problems.


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