WE disembarked from the ship and I was surprised to find that we were expected to go through customs. There hadn’t been any such requirement on entering France some years earlier!
Now the war was over normal procedures were back in place. I remember the customs official asking me what was in my kit bag before marking it with a chalked cross.
I next boarded a train to Woking where we were all gathered in a de-mob centre and had to hand over our kit before being issued wiith the various items of civilian clothing. We had to tip out our kit bags onto a bunk bed then go to another hut to get our civvies.
When I returned I discovered that my personal possessions had been ransacked and many items had been stolen. I lost several items that were intended as gifts, including a bush hat that I would have liked to have kept as a memento. This was a shocking episode and a disgraceful way to treat returning comrades.
Every item of kit I had been issued with was listed in my Pay Book and had to be accounted for and returned; any lost or missing items were to be charged or had to be otherwise accounted for.
After five years of active service I hardly expected to be charged for missing items or clothing. I don’t recall whether any any deductions were made, but I wouldn’t have been surprised.
We were also supposed to keep our battledress for as long as one was on the army reserve list.
The issue of civilian clothing consisted of a suit jacket, a pair of trousers and a waistcoat plus a pair of shoes and a trilby hat. Thank you very much and goodbye!
The next part of my journey home was by train to London Bridge station, where I caught a further train to New Cross, which was about a mile from my home.
I was still carrying a large and heavy kit bag; it was now early evening and, being November, quite dark. Outside New Cross station I noticed a night watchman sitting next to a brazier beside some roadworks. I saw that he had a barrow, which I was able to borrow, and I wheeled my kit bag back home to Malpas Road and my wife Helen.
Of course in those days very few people had telephones and there was no way whatever of letting anyone know when I would be coming home. I arrived to find Helen at home with her mother, her mother’s husband Alf and some other relatives, so it was quite a houseful!
It was good to be home at last, but now of course I had to return the barrow!
Cat lovers have just days left to enter their favourite furry friend into this year’s National Cat Awards. Run by the charity Cats Protection, the annual event celebrates the nation’s most marvellous moggies, with heart-warming tales of devotion, courage and companionship.
Owners now have until noon on Friday 24 February to nominate their cat in one of four categories:
Cat Colleagues – Celebrating cats who bring joy to the workplace or make working from home a pleasure.
Family Fur-ever – Recognising cats that make a family complete, whether they’re a child’s best friend or a comforting sofa buddy.
Moggy Marvels – Jaw-dropping stories of survival, heroism and companionship in the cat world.
Social Star – Paying tribute to cats who spread joy on social media.
Cats Protection’s Chief Executive John May said: “Every year, we’re amazed by the incredible entries we receive to the National Cat Awards, and this year is no different. From hero cats that saved the day to the family moggy who has become a child’s best friend, all the entries show why cats make such wonderful pets.
“With two weeks left before entries close, we’re looking forward to hearing even more stories of moggy brilliance. Owners can nominate their cats in any of the four categories to be in with a chance of winning an award.
“The good news for cat lovers is that you don’t even need to own a cat to get involved. If your favourite feline is a YouTube star or TikTok sensation who helps us all learn about cats and their needs, then you can nominate them in our Social Star category to get them the recognition they deserve.”
Winners will be selected in a public vote and by a panel of judges before being announced during a ceremony at London’s Wilton’s Music Hall on 17 July 2023.
The winner of the National Cat of the Year trophy will inherit the title from Jasper and Willow, who were named joint National Cat of the Year 2022 in recognition of the role they play at St Peter & St James Hospice in Haywards Heath, Sussex.
To nominate your cat, or for further information about the National Cat Awards, visit www.cats.org.uk/national-cat-awards until noon on Friday 24 February.
To find out more about adopting a cat from Cats Protection, visit:
Edinburgh’s gourmet Italian destination begins monthly events by serving up classics from Lombardy
Edinburgh’s restaurant and wine bar Divino Enoteca is known for its modern and creative take on Italian cuisine, and now the eatery is taking that reputation a step further by offering a series of themed, regional dinners to celebrate the country’s variety of incredible flavours.
With menus specially developed by Divino’s head chef Andrea Calistro, the popular restaurant venue will prepare regional menus on two Thursdays each month, with a new region featured every month in a three-course menu with canapés and petit fours for £39, with the option of matching regional wines for an additional £26.
The series will begin by showcasing Lombardy on the 9th and 23rd of February. The northern Italian region encompasses Milan, Lake Como, Bergamo and more with a rich culinary history renowned for its natural bounty.
Full of rich, warming dishes, the menu will offer the perfect cuisine for the cold wintery months – featuring both traditional Lombardian dishes like Ossobuco and Risotto alla Milanese while showcasing the region’s most loved ingredients like polenta, porcini mushrooms, and panettone.
Following February’s Lombardy menu, the following months will continue a journey through northern Italy with Trentino Alto Adige in March, and Veneto in April, before travelling down to the southern regions as we head towards summer.
Divino Regional Menu Schedule
February: Lombardy
March: Trentino Alto Adige
April: Veneto
May: Tuscany
June: Campania
July: Sicily
August: no regional nights scheduled
September: Sardinia
October: Lazio
November: Emilia Romagna
For each event, the regional menu will be available for all bookings throughout the evening, in place of the normal a la carte offering. Diners can choose between meat and vegetarian menus.
Dates and full menu and allergen info will be available in the month leading up to each regional event.
Explore the best of the UK and Ireland on tours departing in February and March
Enjoy 20% off guided tours across the UK and Ireland in February and March from award-winning, small-group tour specialist Rabbie’s (www.rabbies.com).
Many miss the spectacular sights and sounds that the winter months have to offer. Plan a new adventure in February and March and discover the underappreciated wonders of the UK and Ireland, such as the Old Man of Storr and Kilt Rock on the Isle of Skye and the wild Causeway Route on the coast of Ireland.
Save 20% on tours departing in February and March across UK and Ireland departure points, when using the promo code SAVE20. Highlights include:
Three-day The Isle of Skye
Journey through unforgettable landscapes, charming villages and mighty castles on a roundtrip from Edinburgh. Visit historic Scottish landmarks such as Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument and Doune Castle before reaching the mountain pass of Glencoe, famed for its wild beauty.
Be amazed by the incredible Eilean Donan Castle before enjoying a day on the Isle of Skye. On this majestic isle, travel north to the Trotternish Ridge, home to the geological wonders of the Old Man or Stoor and Kilt Rock, or learn of the isle’s legends and clan culture at Dunvegan Castle, the 13th-century home of Clan MacLeod.
Take in views of Loch Duich and the Five Sisters of Kintail after travelling through Cullin Hills and attempt to spot Britain’s best monster, Nessie, at Loch Ness.
Join Rabbie’s Three-day The Isle of Skyefrom Edinburgh from £160 per person (was £199 per person), based on a 22 February 2023 departure.
Three-day Discover Northern Ireland
Towering mountains, unforgettable legends and a fascinating history are all waiting to be uncovered in Northern Ireland during this tour which departs from Dublin.
Take in a city tour of Belfast before exploring the majesty of the 19th-century estate of Mount Stewart and its world-famous gardens. Chart the winding and wild Causeway Coastal Route before stepping foot in the land of titans at Giant’s Causeway – a location where myths and legends and geological fact collide.
Ride on a ferry across the ‘Narrows’ of Strangford Loch and pass into a land of fiction at Castle Ward, also known as Winterfell from Game of Thrones. Follow the holy course of St Patrick to the Down Cathedral before concluding with an incredible drive into the Mourne Mountains.
Join Rabbie’s Three-day 3-day Discover Northern Ireland from Dublin from €272 per person (was €339 per person), based on a 23 February 2023 departure.
For more information about Rabbie’s and its tour offerings, visit www.rabbies.com.
St Andrew’s First Aid celebrates its 10th year of the Scottish First Aid Awards
Scotland’s only dedicated first aid charity, St Andrew’s First Aid, has received a record number of nominations this year ahead of hosting its 10th annual Scottish First Aid Awards.
The ceremony, which has grown year on year over the last decade and is now a highly anticipated event in the Scottish calendar, has had more than 65 nominations across the nine categories, which recognise individuals and groups who have demonstrated first aid excellence or helped save a life using first aid.
Lifesavers spanning from Stirling to The Shetland Isles have been submitted for consideration at this year’s event, which will take place at Glasgow’s Radisson Blu on 31st March.
With first aid heroes as young as six honoured in last year’s awards, the evening celebrates both the incredible nominees and winners, sharing their stories to help inspire Scotland to become a nation of lifesavers.
Brothers Callum and Fraser McAteer, aged just nine and seven, were amongst the winners at the 2022 awards.
Having saved their younger sister Erica (aged two) from choking on a 10p coin, by using back slaps to dislodge the item, the boys were commended for their quick thinking and intervention.
First responders who have saved lives using both physical and mental health first aid will also be recognised. Mental health issues rose sharply during the pandemic, with St Andrew’s First Aid rolling out its mental health first aid training as part of an initiative to help people spot the sings of mental ill health in others and equipping them with the skills and knowledge to step in, in a mental health emergency.
In 2019, Glasgow City Council worker George Duff was awarded for saving the life of a man who was standing at the top of a suspension bridge. George used his mental health first aid training to talk with him for 25 minutes, before persuading him to move to safety.
With nine award categories including Community First Aid Champion, Emergency Services First Aid Hero and Young First Aid Hero, lifesavers across Scotland will be celebrated at the event, attended by more than 400 guests.
Stuart Callison, chief executive of St Andrew’s First Aid, said: “Each time we host the Scottish First Aid Awards, we are recognising the exceptional bravery and selflessness of individuals from around the country.
“It’s fitting that our 10th year has resulted in a record number of nominations. Throughout the last decade, our nominees and winners have demonstrated how pivotal quick reactions can be in emergency situations and shone a light on the importance of first aid knowledge and skills.
“We look forward to delivering another outstanding event in celebration of those people who choose to put others first, and in doing so, save a life.”
Still Game star, Sanjeev Kohli, will host the ceremony. With live music and entertainment, auctions and more lined up, the event is set to be another huge success.
Phasing out use of peat to protect the environment
The sale of peat is set to be banned in Scotland, as part of wider plans to protect peatlands and reduce carbon emissions.
As most extracted peat is used for horticulture, the Scottish Government is looking for views from gardeners and commercial growers.
The government is also asking for views from industry – those who extract peat, those who supply it, garden centres and other users of peat such as the fuel and whisky industries.
The intention is to ban the retail sale of peat for home gardening first, before considering how a wider ban would affect commercial users.
Responses to the consultation will inform plans and timescales for moving away from using peat products in order to protect peatlands from further damage. Their protection and restoration form important components of Scotland’s response to the climate and nature emergencies.
Environment Minister Mairi McAllan said: “Peatlands are an integral part of our cultural and natural heritage and cover over a third of Scotland’s land area. In good condition, they help mitigate climate change and can support communities with green jobs. In poor condition, though, the benefits are lost and peatlands become a source of carbon emissions.
“Restoring Scotland’s peatlands can help us fight climate change, support biodiversity and provide good, green jobs – often in rural communities. This is why we have invested £250 million to restore 250,000 hectares of peatlands over a 10 year period to 2030.
“Hand in hand with our efforts to restore degraded peatlands, we must also do all we can to protect them. This means we must consider how to stop using peat, whether extracted in Scotland or elsewhere.
“We welcome a wide range of views to this consultation to ensure that we can set dates for ending the sale of peat that are both realistic and ambitious.”
Kirsty Wilson, Herbaceous Supervisor at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Director of Horticulture at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Raoul Curtis-Machin said: “The use of peat by gardeners now needs to be seriously challenged, when healthy non-degraded peat bogs in Scotland are critical in our fight against climate change and are immensely valuable for biodiversity.
“The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is dedicated to plant conservation and stopped using peat more than 20 years ago, with no negative impacts on our world-class horticulture. Materials like milled pine bark and other fibrous woody material have proved to be a successful alternative to peat, even for the most challenging plants such as rhododendrons.”
Cruise operator Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours is bringing the joys of the world even closer to home for travellers from Scotland in 2023, with direct flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow offered across its range of European sailings (www.scenic.co.uk).
This remarkable deal – which guarantees departures on full-service airlines rather than budget carriers – meaning local holidaymakers are never far from the blooming tulips of the Netherlands. The best of Europe is only a short stop away with Scenic.
Book by 28 February to save up to £2,300 per couple and enjoy a taste of the line’s famous five-star luxury from the off, with FREE business class flights and private door to door transfers.
Highlights for 2023 include:
8 Day Windmills, Tulips and Belgian Delights
Irresistibly joyful, the Netherlands in bloom is a sight to savour. Sailing on a roundtrip from Amsterdam, the first port of call is the dynamic, international city of Rotterdam, the architectural capital of the Netherlands.
If preferrable, guests can decide to instead visit the picturesque town of Kinderdijk, famed for its iconic Dutch windmills. Walk the charming streets of Veere and visit the diamond capital of the world in the beautiful city of Antwerp.
Be transported back in time at the Netherlands Open Air Museum, home to historic houses, farms and windmills, or visit the Gardens of Appeltern, which is home to 200 colourful model gardens. In Amsterdam, conclude your unforgettable voyage with a memorable visit to the Keukenhof Gardens, which is home to over seven million flowering bulbs. This voyage calls in at Dordrecht, Veere, Antwerp, Arnhem and Hoorn. Prices start from £2,435 per person based on a 5 April 2023 departure date.
Scenic’s river cruises are truly all-inclusive, meaning guests can leave their wallet in a safe place and relax, knowing everything is taken care of. Flights, transfers, fine dining experiences, premium branded beverages and once-in-a-lifetime immersive excursions are all included in the price.
For more information or to book, call 0808 301 8277, visit www.scenic.co.uk, or contact your local travel agent.
The National Deaf Children’s Society is delighted the Scottish Labour Party yesterday unanimously passed a motion pledging crucial support to deaf children during their early years.
If deafness is not identified early enough, deaf children may miss out on vital early language development, the opportunity to learn British Sign Language (BSL) from a young age or the chance to have a hearing aid or implant fitted. This can have a lifelong impact on the ability of deaf children to communicate.
The National Deaf Children’s Society wants to ensure no deaf child in Scotland waits more than six weeks from referral to audiology to getting a hearing test, as set out in the current Scottish Quality standards for Paediatric Audiology. However, in some parts of Scotland the average wait time can be a year.
Welcoming the support of the Scottish Labour Party, Mark Ballard, the National Deaf Children’s Society’s Head of Policy and Influencing for Scotland, said: “If we fail to get paediatric audiology services right for deaf children when deafness is first identified we then risk failing deaf children for life.
“Because of the delays some families face, we can end up with the shocking scenario where children who might have benefited from using hearing aids from the very earliest years miss out simply because of delays in testing and treatment.
“Unfortunately, opportunities to learn language in this vital period of development once missed cannot be reversed.”
Scottish Labour councillor Ben Smith (Paisley Northwest, Renfrewshire), who put forward the motion, said: “We were all shocked learn how deaf children were failed by audiology services at NHS Lothian.
“This cannot be allowed to happen again. Waiting times for deaf children to access audiology testing and treatment are still too long. Early support is crucial to help deaf children thrive.
“Scottish Labour is proud to support deaf children and young people in Scotland.”
Mr Ballard added: “Every deaf child should get the high-quality support they need from the earliest years. We need robust quality assurance mechanism to make sure there can be no more scandals like NHS Lothian.
“With the right support deaf children can get best opportunities to develop language skills and should be able to make informed choices around hearing aids, implants and learning BSL.”
East Renfrewshire is the mainland authority with the highest growth at 17.7%
2022 makes history with the largest number of high-value homes sold
Edinburgh one of six areas with values increased by 10% or more
Scott Jack, Regional Development Director at Walker Fraser Steele, comments:“If we step back for a moment and look at 2022 overall, it has been a record year for housing transactions in Scotland – all the more significant if we consider the performance of house prices over the last couple of years which have seemingly inexorably climbed.
“When we consider the rise in prices since the start of lockdowns back in March 2020, the average house price over that period has risen £41,700 (or 22.7 per cent). If we look at consumer prices measured by the CPIH over the same period, house prices have comfortably outperformed price growth elsewhere.
“Our data looks at the entire market which includes the significant volume of cash purchases north of the border and supports the view expressed in the RICS Residential Market Survey for December and January which indicated that prices are generally remaining resilient in Scotland. A frequent observation is that there remains a lack of suitable properties coming on to the market, which creates competition for those that are available, which helps in turn support current price levels.
“If we focus specifically on December, we can see the impact of the rising cost of borrowing. The average house price in Scotland continued to rise during December, although the increase was a modest £63. Average prices have now reached £225,520, which is some £14,800 – or 7.0% – higher than a year earlier. This sets another new record average price for Scotland, the tenth to occur in 2022.”
Table 1. Average House Prices in Scotland for the period December 2021 – December 2022 (The prices are end-month smoothed over a 3 month period) (Link to source Excel)
Commentary: John Tindale, Acadia Senior Housing Analyst:
The December housing market
Average house prices in Scotland continued to rise during December, although the increase was a very modest £63. Average prices have now reached £225,520, which is some £14,800 – or 7.0% – higher than a year earlier. This sets another new record average price for Scotland, the tenth to occur in 2022.
Indeed, if we look at the change in values since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 – when the average house price in Scotland was £183,853 – there has been an increase of some £41,700 or 22.7% to the end of December 2022. This compares favourably with the increase in consumer prices of 15.4%, measured by CPIH, over the same period. Property prices have thus risen in real terms over the last nearly three years.
Looking at the first six months of the monthly rates of change in house prices in Table 1 on page 3, the total amounts to 5.3%, which contrasts with the 1.5% increase in monthly rates during the second half of 2022.
This is a clear demonstration of the cooling in the housing market that has taken place over the last six months. However, what we can also see is that, with the exception of August 2022, the movement in prices has remained positive, which indicates that demand for properties still exists – even if it has softened from the levels seen earlier in the year.
As we show on page 7, sales of high value properties have continued throughout 2022, at a pace which exceeds that of 2021 – which year had itself set new record levels, almost 90% higher than the total number of high-value properties sold in 2019.
The RICS Residential Market Survey for December and January both indicated that prices are generally remaining resilient in Scotland, which contrasts with negative movements to the south in England. A frequent comment among surveyors in Scotland is that there is a lack of properties coming on to the market, which creates competition for those that are available, generally maintaining existing price levels. We wait with considerable interest to see what 2023 has in store.
Annual change
The average house price in Scotland in December 2022 has increased by some £14,800 – or 7.0% – over the last twelve months. This annual rate of growth has marginally decreased from November’s revised 7.1%, but only by the smallest of margins. In fact, prices in December increased by just £63 in the month, but an increase is an increase, and somewhat remarkably this rise established yet another record average house price – £225,520 – for the tenth month this calendar year.
In December 2022, 29 of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland saw their average prices rise above the levels of twelve months earlier, the same number as in November. The three areas where values fell over the year were, in descending order, Aberdeen City (-5.4%), Scottish Borders (-3.0%) and Stirling (-0.7%).
Aberdeen City has now fallen by nine places over the year to 24th in terms of its ranking of average prices compared to the other 31 local authorities in Scotland. This month in Aberdeen City, flats have experienced the largest fall in value, from an average £120k in December 2021 to £105k one year later.
The area with the highest annual increase in average house prices in December 2022 was the Shetland Islands, where average values have increased by 19.5% over the year. In the Shetland Islands, detached property values have seen the highest rise over the year, from £190k in December 2021 to £240k twelve months later, but this is based on a relatively small number of transactions.
On the mainland, the highest annual increase was in East Renfrewshire, up by 17.7%. This increase has been assisted by the sale of a £2.3 million detached property in Giffnock, some nine miles to the south of Glasgow. The property is the most expensive home to have been sold in East Renfrewshire in the last five years.
On a weight-adjusted basis, which incorporates both the change in prices and the number of transactions involved, there are five local authority areas in December which accounted for 51% of the £14,800 increase in Scotland’s average house price over the year. The five areas in descending order of influence are: – Edinburgh (25%); Glasgow (11%); East Renfrewshire (5%); North Lanarkshire (5%); and South Lanarkshire (5%).
Monthly change
In December 2022, Scotland’s average house price rose in the month by just £63, or 0.0% This follows November’s rise in prices of some £1,100, but it does at least remain positive.
In December 2022, 17 of the 32 Local Authority areas in Scotland experienced rising prices in the month, which is the same number as in November. Of the 17 local authorities with price increases, 8 are in the top 16 areas when ranked by price, with 9 being in the lower half of the market. The distribution of those with price rises is therefore evenly matched between the higher- and lower-priced areas in Scotland.
The area with the largest increase in average prices on the mainland in December was Moray, up by 4.9%. This month, the increase in the average price in Moray was helped by the sale of a six-bedroom detached home, set in eight acres of land, located some 1.5 miles to the west of Elgin. It sold for £1.1 million which is the second most expensive property in Moray in 2022. It had previously been sold in June 2010 for £800k, which works out at an annual compound gain of 2.6%, over the period.
Peak Prices
Each month, in Table 2 above, the local authority areas which have reached a new record in their average house prices are highlighted in light blue. In December, there are 6 such authorities, down from the 8 in November. Scotland itself has also set a new record average house price of £225,520 in the month.
Scotland transactions of £750k or higher
Table 3. The number of transactions by month in Scotland greater than or equal to £750k, January 2015 – December 2022 (Link to source Excel)
Table 3 shows the number of transactions per month in Scotland which are equal to or greater than £750k. The threshold of £750k has been selected as it is the breakpoint at which the highest rate of LBTT becomes payable.
There were 114 such transactions recorded by Ros during the month, with 70 relating to December 2022, 34 to November 2022 and a further 10 from earlier months, increasing the number registered to date in 2022 to 1,198.
This total already exceeds that of 2021, with a further 30 or so properties likely to be added to the total next month. Thus 2022 has proven to be the year with the largest number of high value sales in Scotland’s housing history.
Indeed, on the relatively safe assumption that a further 10 sales will be added to the December 2022 total, we can say that such sales in 2022 exceeded those in each month of 2021, except for March and June.
It may be recalled that March 2021 was the last month in which the LBTT tax-holiday applied in Scotland – which explains the higher number of sales that occurred in that month. Similarly, June 2021 was the last month of the SDLT tax-holiday in England – which wouldn’t have saved money for those buying a property in Scotland, but may have acted as an incentive for those moving to Scotland from England, so as to maximise the value of the home being sold.
Table 4 (next) provides a listing of the local authority areas ranked by the number of sales in excess of or equal to £750,000 for the years from 2018 – 2022.
Transactions analysis
Figure 2 below shows the monthly transaction count for purchases during the period from January 2007 to December 2022, based on Ros (Registers of Scotland) figures for the Date of Entry (December 2022 totals are based on Ros Application dates).
The graph starts in 2007, which was something of an exception, with close to 150,000 domestic property sales in the calendar year. The 2007 sales total is the largest of the last 18 years, although the period from 2004 to 2006 came close, with an average 139,000 sales on an annual basis.
However, during 2008 the banking industry began to suffer its credit crisis, with home loans becoming difficult to obtain, especially for first time buyers. Accordingly, the number of housing transactions fell to approximately 70,000 per year over the period from 2009 to 2012.
Normality was slowly restored from 2013, with sales rising to a yearly average of 87,500 over the period from 2013 to 2015, rising to an average 102,000 sales per annum from 2016 to 2019.
The effect of the Covid pandemic – which started in March 2020 – can be clearly seen on the graph. Housing transactions in April 2020 plummeted with the arrival of the pandemic, to be followed by a slow rise in sales as confidence began to return. Then followed a period when sales exceeded previous levels, from September 2020, as lifestyle changes and the LBTT tax-holiday pushed up demand – especially for properties with space to allow for working from home.
Figure 2. The number of sales per month recorded by Ros based on entry date from 2007 – 2022 (Link to source Excel)
In Figure 2, three peaks can be seen after March 2020: in October 2020 (pent-up demand from the low transaction levels earlier in 2020) and March and June 2021 (LBTT and SDLT tax-holidays encouraging sales in both Scotland and England). In the first eleven months of 2022, transaction levels have averaged 8,563 sales per month, which closely matches the average 8,610 sales per month recorded in the first eleven months of 2019 – the last full year prior to Covid.
Heat Map
The heat map below shows the rate of house price growth for the 12 months ending December 2022. As reported above, 29 of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland have seen a rise in their average property values over the last year, the three exceptions being Aberdeen City, the Scottish Borders and Stirling. The highest increase on the mainland over the twelve months to December 2022 was in East Renfrewshire at 17.7%. 6 of the 32 local authority areas had price growth of 10.0% or higher – four fewer than in November 2022.
Supporting and scaling up responsible investment in nature
Environmental organisations, community groups, land owners and farmers will be eligible to apply for a share of £1.8 million funding to help grow their nature projects.
The Scottish Government and NatureScot, working in partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and with support from the Green Finance Institute, are launching a new programme of support to help scale up private investment in Scotland’s natural capital.
Grants of up to £240,000 will be offered to organisations and partnerships to help develop a viable business case and financial model, to attract investment in projects that can restore and improve the natural environment, such as, but not limited to, woodland creation, marine enhancement and peatland restoration. Successful projects will also demonstrate the means to engage and share benefits with communities, contributing to a just transition.
The Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland programme also aims to ensure that investment in, and use of, Scotland’s natural capital creates benefits that are shared.
Minister for Environment and Land Reform Mairi McAllan said: “The Scottish Government has already significantly increased public investment in nature restoration through, for example, our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund.
“But public investment can’t do it alone. The finance gap for nature in Scotland for the next decade has been estimated to be £20 billion – that’s why we are working to find ways to bridge this finance gap through leveraging responsible private finance.
“The Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland programme will enable swifter, easier and scaled up development of nature-based investable projects across the country. It has the potential to grow natural capital markets that reach across rural, urban, terrestrial and marine settings, and to support a wide variety of natural assets and ecosystem services.”
NatureScot’s Director of Green Economy Robbie Kernahan said: “Scotland’s nature is in crisis: its unique habitats and ecosystems will only continue providing the benefits to our wellbeing if we act now to value it and invest in it.
“The new Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland is a vital opportunity to stimulate that investment and will help us halt nature loss – we must grasp it with both hands.”
Heritage Fund Director for Scotland Caroline Clark said: “Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, we are delighted to support this programme which will ensure more of Scotland’s natural capital can be unlocked for the benefit of the environment and communities.
“FIRNS offers an exciting opportunity to explore ways of diversifying income for Scotland’s nature sector and building skills, capacity and resilience for the communities and organisations who are caring for the future of our natural world in a time of immense change.”
