THE population density of Aberdeenshire is 37 residents per square kilometre. Some parts, of course, have no residents at all. Aberdeen, by contrast has well over 1100.

But not all parts of rural Scotland were so scarce of people. I have been looking into my family history on and off for a few years now and research over lockdown led me to the Allanachs of Glenbuchat, my great-great-great grandparents.

Glenbuchat is a beautiful and magical corner of highland Aberdeenshire. It was once populous and thriving. It boasted 14 fermtouns, collections of numerous dwellings huddled together for protection with large families under each roof. The population of Glenbuchat in the early 1800s can easily be estimated in the thousands. Last century it dropped to 50. Only now is there a resurgence in families making their home there.

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When people think of rural Aberdeenshire they think of peace, quiet, rolling hills, farming, fishing and fairytale castles. In many ways that is what makes this one of the best places to live. But rural life has its challenges.

Poor connectivity makes it difficult for communities to survive, never mind thrive, and the lack of critical population mass makes it all too easy for the powers that be to justify the closure of local services.

Earlier this year, at home twiddling our thumbs through lockdown, myself and some likeminded members of the Deeside and Upper Donside SNP branch started thinking about how we address these issues as a party.

We developed a 24-point Rural Stimulus Plan and some of our recommendations are up for discussion at SNP Conference this weekend.

If we are to reinvigorate rural Scotland, reinstating branch railway lines is an obvious place to start. Doing so in Royal Deeside would instantly create the most popular tourist route in the country, with huge spinoff benefits for local residents and businesses alike.

Likewise, reopening the branch line to Alford via Kemnay off the main line to Inverness would instantly open up a corner of the country underserved by transport and local services. They are just two examples among countless others across Scotland, of which many fell foul of Dr Beeching’s cuts. We should not think of these opportunities as pie in the sky. They’re ambitious, sure, but with huge carbon reduction benefits and significant potential return on modest investment.

We need to address the chronic imbalance in land ownership across rural Scotland. Land should be for communities, for renewables, to support jobs and local enterprise, for environmental purposes and for much needed housing supply.

Bolstering compulsory purchase powers for derelict sites and buildings would hand power back to communities to bring them back into use. Just think of the myriad abandoned farm buildings, byres and cottages dotted across rural Scotland, standing solid but unoccupied for decades. If landowners don’t make use of them, someone else should be offered that opportunity.

More and more people are interested in growing their own seasonal produce, so let’s give them the land to run sustainable community horticulture projects to grow their own fresh produce on their doorstep.

Alongside land reform for people, we need to restore Scotland’s habitats to allow native species to thrive. Huge swathes of Aberdeenshire have been denuded for sports or for commercial purposes over recent centuries. These wild lands shouldn’t be deserts.

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And of course, for the north-east especially, we need a just transition. For me, that means not a single energy job is consigned to the scrap heap before we have a high-skilled, low-carbon job to take its place. Putting people out of work ain't just.

No government, I fear, is making that case strongly or loudly enough.

Not for a second am I suggesting that life was rosey for my Glenbuchat forebears in the 1800s. Life was tough, and the promise of better life elsewhere was as much of a pull factor as what pushed crofters and tenants from rural Scotland.

But there’s a lesson in there for our future. We can do so much as a country to give working people the support to build a life, a business, a family and a positive future for themselves in all parts of rural Scotland. Otherwise, populations dwindle, schools and GP practices close their doors and we repeat the mistakes of the past.

For any political party that wants to govern, you put a cap on your ambition for our nation unless your prospectus for a better Scotland puts these communities and their needs front and centre of your plans for rebuild and recover.