Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Call for Scotland’s rural communities to be at the heart of the Brexit debate

Caroline Milar relaxing at one of The Hideaway Experience luxury lodges she runs.
Caroline Milar relaxing at one of The Hideaway Experience luxury lodges she runs.

Rural entrepreneur Caroline Millar fears Scotland’s outlying communities could be forgotten in the heat of the Brexit debate.

The businesswoman has several strings to her bow with her management consultancy, Go Rural, luxury holiday lodges business The Hideaway Experience and the day-to-day running of the family farm in the foothills of the Sidlaws at Auchterhouse to attend to.

Her championing of the rural economy has also seen her serve as a board member of Scotland’s rural college SRUC and the Scottish Food Tourism Board.

She is also a past chair of the Oxford Farming Conference, one of the premier agricultaural industry events in the whole of the UK.

Speaking ahead of her appearance as a panellist at The Courier’s latest Business Briefing on Brexit next week, Caroline said there was a danger the rural voice could be lost in the current deliberations.

She said it was vital that the needs of those living and working within the rural economy were taken into account as the Brexit conundrum was resolved.

“Obviously I have a few different interests which are all related to the rural economy,” Caroline said.

“We have a tourism business here, we are farming and I am also a rural business consultant and I am in contact with a lot of other rural businesses ever day. From the tourism point of view I am slightly concerned about what the financial impact of Brexit will be on the money people have in their pockets.

“We are not seeing a decrease in demand but obviously if there was a massive (economic) shock or recession that would have an impact.”

Caroline said many agricultural businesses and rural leisure and hospitality firms were also concerned about potential recruitment difficulties if access to migrant labour was cut in the wake of Brexit.

“My main ask of the politicians is that they don’t forget rural Scotland and the rural economy, Caroline said.

“The rural economy can be a fragile economy and we need infrastructure and support to keep people in these communites and keep them alive and well.”

Caroline will appear on The Courier’s Business Briefings Brexit panel alongside Andrew Stirling of Stirfresh Limited, Bank of Scotland area director and Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce president Ian Collins and keynote speaker Professor Sir John Curtice, the UK’s foremost political forecaster.

The Briefing will take place at Dundee’s Apex City Quay Hotel on Thursday, February 7.

Tickets for the event are available via via the website www.thecourierbriefings.co.uk or by contacting Sharon Methven at smethven@dctmedia.co.uk