The Rural Housing Alliance have written to the Secretary of State for Housing to offer support
The Rural Housing Alliance (RHA), which works in partnership with the Rural Services Network and National Housing Federation, is a group of leading housing associations that develop and manage affordable homes in rural areas across England. The RHA has written to Government regarding the potential of rural communities in the UK’s economic recovery from the […]
RSN asks Government for local approach to track and trace
The Rural Services Network, along with other members of the Rural Coalition, a grouping of organisations representing rural areas has written to Rt Hon Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health, asking for a localised approach to #covid19uk track and trace with rural communities. Because of the dispersed and limited health and social care […]
Issues raised at the latest meeting of the Rural Impacts Stakeholder Forum (RISF)
The Rural Impacts Stakeholder Forum (RISF) was established in March 2020 to enable open and regular dialogue between key rural stakeholder organisations and Defra on the impact of COVID-19 on rural communities and businesses. Members of the Forum meet with Defra officials on a weekly basis, with Lord Gardiner, the Minister for Rural Affairs and […]
The Plunkett Foundation write to Local Authority Leaders
The Plunkett Foundation (alonside other organisations) has written to Local Authority Leaders to highlight the importance of local social enterprises, co-operatives and community businesses to their local area Local Authorities have been allocated an additional £617m in business grants to distribute to support their local economy from Government and they have some flexibility in how […]
Study suggests increase in employment in rural areas despite lockdown
Several outlets, including the BBC and the Independent, report on a study showing that some rural parts of the UK have seen a surge in job adverts posted, despite the pandemic Rural communities in areas such as South Norfolk and Breckland saw job postings jump 8.7 percent between early and mid-May, according to the Recruitment […]
Defra grant to food charities update
On Monday 11th May, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) launched a Food Charities Grant Fund. If you run a front-line not-for-profit or charity that provides food, you may be eligible to apply for a grant to support your organisation to provide food those who need it. Defra encourage you to apply […]
Coronavirus Community Support Fund
The Government’s new Coronavirus Community Support Fund, administered by the National Lottery is open for applications (as of 10am on Friday 22nd May). This makes available £200m in Government funding aimed primarily at small to medium organisations in England with two key objectives: To increase community support to vulnerable people affected by the COVID-19 crisis, […]
COVID-19: Extra bank holiday for October being considered
The BBC covers news that the Government is considering introducing an extra bank holiday in October around the time of half-term. Patricia Yates, acting head of the UK’s tourism agency, Visit Britain, told MPs on Tuesday the industry had lost the benefit of two bank holidays in May because of the lockdown, and an extra […]
£3.8 million rural economy innovation centre set to launch
The North East Times Magazine, Insider Media and Bdaily report that a new national innovation centre set to support the UK’s rural economy will launch in the North East later this year The National Innovation Centre for the Rural Economy (NICRE), funded by a £3.8 million grant from Research England, will be led by specialists […]
Plastic bottle recycling pilot highlights scalable solution to help meet UK’s recycling challenges
Greenredeem is today calling for Defra to invest in convenient recycling solutions that create sustained behaviour change by appealing to people’s priorities, rather than focusing solely on rolling out a deposit return scheme (DRS) in the UK In a new report, ‘Money back for our empties – the recycling solution for our plastic bottles?’, Greenredeem […]
