Barriers to Access

The RSN campaigns to help rural residents overcome multiple access barriers to key services which includes poor transport and broadband.

Hot Topics

12 Nov 2018

Second homes ‘tax loophole’ review

The Government has launched a review of a tax loophole under which the owners of second homes register their properties as businesses in order to gain small business rate relief....

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05 Nov 2018

Government funds rural broadband

Philip Hammond on Monday announced £200 million of Government funding to extend full-fibre broadband to hard-to-reach rural areas. The Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme will install hubs in public buildings such...

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05 Nov 2018

Rural areas ‘least socially mobile’

A report recently published by the County All-Party-Parliamentary Group (APPG) and County Councils Network (CCN), Social Mobility in Counties, has found that current council funding models contribute to maintaining a...

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05 Nov 2018

The Budget 2018 – Response review

There has been much comment on the Chancellor’s Budget in the press. The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) welcomed the introduction of a Structures and Buildings Allowance for non-residential structures as...

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05 Nov 2018

Rules against rural school closures

Closing a rural school in Wales should only happen after councils have done “everything they can” to keep it open, according to new guidelines. Changes to the School Organisation Code...

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05 Nov 2018

O2 boosts rural 4G Coverage

UK mobile network operator, O2, has promised to improve 4G coverage in 330 rural towns and villages across the UK with a £45 million expansion project, according to TotalTelecom and...

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05 Nov 2018

Budget Review – Implications for Rural Communities

The Treasury have provided us with a summary of announcements from the Budget 2018 which benefit Rural Areas.   Below is a table showing these announcements set against the RSN...

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29 Oct 2018

Budget plans for broadband

The Chancellor will announce today hundreds of millions of pounds to support superfast broadband in remote areas of the country, according to The Sunday Telegraph. Phillip Hammond is expected to...

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29 Oct 2018

Councils could generate £320 billion

Councils could generate £320 billion for the UK economy over the next 50 years if they were able to build more high-quality council housing, according to the Local Government Association....

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29 Oct 2018

Campaigners warn of threat to countryside

ITV reports on claims from campaigners that plans to build a million new homes between Oxford and Cambridge, nicknamed The Oxford-Cambridge Arc, would destroy an area of countryside roughly the...

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