The rural economy – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network then calls upon an incoming Government to: Recognise the important contribution that rural areas make to the nation’s economic wellbeing and reflect this explicitly in its growth policies. Insist that all Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs) whose geographies include rural communities and rural based businesses are clear how their Strategic Economic Plans […]
Broadband and mobile connectivity – calls to Government
Two issues demand urgent resolution, these being to: Permit greater flexibility in what its agency, BDUK, allows to be counted as match funding for Government broadband investment programmes, so that local projects with allocations can actually proceed. Demand that providers (who receive public funds) release detailed information about superfast broadband availability at a premises level […]
Viable village services – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network calls upon an incoming Government to: Commit that there will be no programme of post office closures during the lifetime of the 2015 to 2020 Parliament and the access measures for the post office network will be maintained. Statistical access measures are inevitably quite crude, so it is important the Post […]
Tackling fuel poverty – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network calls upon an incoming Government to: Recognise that fuel poverty is a significant rural issue and that rising fuel prices hit many rural households hard. Policy initiatives should therefore target rural needs and be designed to suit rural circumstances. Maintain the current value of the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners. This […]
Older people’s services – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network calls upon an incoming Government to: Ensure, as noted earlier, that the formula used to allocate local government finance properly takes better account of the additional cost of delivering services such as adult social care in rural areas. Ensure that where older people’s support services are subject to competition, new providers […]
Access to health facilities – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network calls upon an incoming Government to: Ask its Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA) to review the NHS resource allocation formula for Clinical Commissioning Groups, so that their funding more closely matches local levels of actual and predicted demand for services. Pursue rigorously the stated wish to see more of the […]
Public transport – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network calls upon an incoming Government to: Encourage and incentivise bus operators, local authorities and communities to work in partnership, so they can find local solutions that reduce the frontline impact on services that are a result of tightening public sector budgets. As noted in the local government funding section above, amend […]
Local government funding – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network calls upon an incoming Government to: Acknowledge that Government proposals contained in its 2012 Consultation were seeking to right an historic wrong and that the whole of the pre-damped amounts exemplified should flow through to the 170 Councils and Fire Authorities concerned. Implement this with annual increases to 2020, at the […]
Affordable housing – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network calls upon an incoming Government to: Reinstate a rural target in the HCA’s Affordable Homes Programme, to ensure that investment is available to meet needs within rural communities. Recognise the additional cost of building social housing in smaller rural settlements, when the HCA assesses value for money of schemes and awards […]
The planning system – calls to Government
The Rural Services Network calls upon an incoming Government to: Respect that planning authorities need the flexibility to write and interpret Local Plan policies which can reflect local priorities and circumstances. The shortened NPPF is welcome. Whilst explanatory guidance can be useful, any temptation to reintroduce more national policies should be resisted. Relax its unreasonable […]
