Many rural areas in Britain are within an hour's drive of a major urban centre, making urban labour markets and services accessible to at least some of their residents. Often, such accessible rural areas attract migrants both from more remote areas and from urban areas in search of ‘the best of both worlds’ (Shucksmith et al, 1996). The East Perthshire study area, shown in Figure 3.1, is an accessible rural area of Scotland, mostly within commuting distance of Perth, Dundee and the central belt. The area includes a population of about 19,000 people over an area of 468 km2, half of whom live in Blairgowrie and Rattray, the principal town. To the south, fertile lowlands include smaller settlements, while to the north a series of remoter glens stretch up into the Grampian mountains. The area is renowned for the growing of soft fruit and its rich past in textile weaving. It also attracts tourists, commuters and retirement migrants, and older age groups are overrepresented. The population is economically and socially diverse, including not only areas of expensive middle-class housing but also communities that are in the 20 per cent most deprived within Scotland. Accordingly, there are big disparities in the housing affordability ratio (house price/household income) from 2.3 in Rattray or Alyth to nearly 13 in the scenic north-west of the area towards Highland Perthshire.

According to Perth and Kinross Council's East Perthshire Locality Profile, which used the ACORN segmentation1 to describe the household types within East Perthshire, the two largest groups are ‘Comfortable Communities’ (37 per cent) and ‘Financially Stretched’ (28 per cent). This indicates ‘the very diverse nature of what is a relatively small and low population area’ (Perth and Kinross Council, 2015a, 4). Perth and Kinross Council estimated in 2015 that 27 per cent of households fall below the Minimum Income Standard, even without taking higher rural costs of living into consideration (Perth and Kinross Council, 2015a, 48).

Income from employment

The local economy used to be based on soft fruit growing, textiles and manufacturing but fewer are now employed in these activities, with the major employers, such as Smedley's which employed between 400 and 600 staff, having downsized or closed.