Tensions, limits and potentials - Evaluating rural development policies inScotland

The establishment of the EU's Rural Development Regulation (EC 1257/99) ref lects the continuing efforts of policymakers to develop integrated policy i nitiatives for the pursuit of sustainable rural development. The resulting changes have been given added impetus in UK regions by the emergence of new forms of rural governance under devolution. This process is also highlight ing the need for governments to respond flexibly to distinctive ruralities, as well as the scope for developing greater 'joined-up' policy making at t he point of implementation. These agendas also present a considerable chall enge to the management and evaluation of public policy: objectives have mul tiplied, become more nuanced, yet may not always be straightforwardly compa tible. Thus, policymakers and evaluators alike are being compelled to find new ways of deliberating tradeoffs, as well as constructing coherence in po licymaking and delivery processes among different policy actors and sectors . Policy evaluation is playing an important, yet problematic role in this s earch for coherence, and this paper reports on the application of a policy appraisal methodology (the 'Cardiff Methodology') to two complex sets of is sues facing rural Scotland: the scope for making schemes of public assistan ce to rural land uses more streamlined, more participative and conditional on compliance with other regulatory requirements; the compatibility of curr ent and emerging transport policies with rural development objectives. The methodology seeks to support the deliberation of issues lying at the interf ace between sectoral policy objectives, and focuses on identifying the scop e for action at the Scottish level in respect of these issues. The paper co ncludes with some interim findings about the utility and application of the policy evaluation methodology, and considers some wider implications for t his new 'evaluation paradigm' in rural governance.