Rural Economies

Economic growth is widely acknowledged as essential for national wealth and prosperity, and is a priority for political parties. Rural economies, employing millions and home to a higher proportion of small businesses, have potential for growth if barriers are removed.

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11 Sep 2023

New report reveals broadband outages have doubled in last year

A new report from Uswitch, reveals that broadband outages have doubled in the last year. Sky News report that: “Uswitch’s report found 15% of people have been prevented from working...

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Rural Economy Spotlight – September 2023
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11 Sep 2023

Rural Economy Spotlight – September 2023

A quarterly bulletin facilitated by your membership of the Rural Services Network highlighting a selection of current rural economic development news, issues and opportunities Almost time for the 2023 National...

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01 Sep 2023

RSN joins businesses and charities urging Chancellor to safeguard cash as vital payment method

The RSN has joined a coalition of businesses, charities and consumer groups to issue an open letter to Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, urging for the protection of cash...

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01 Sep 2023

Red tape around house building scrapped by government

Over 100,000 new homes, which the government says have been “held up due to defective EU laws”, will now go ahead before 2030, delivering an estimated £18 billion boost to...

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29 Aug 2023

Rural entrepreneurs bring about business boom

Almost 100,000 micro businesses have been started in rural areas in the last 12 months according to new research. The data from Venture Forward, an initiative from GoDaddy, shows that...

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21 Aug 2023

Government promises free access to cash to be protected “particularly” for those living in rural areas

A new policy is to be introduced which will ensure that the ‘vast majority of people and businesses’ will be no further than three miles away from a place where...

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21 Aug 2023

Local council welcomes news of UK’s second investment zone

Plans to create the UK’s second investment zone in Liverpool, focusing on life sciences, are being welcomed by neighbouring rural areas. The Government said that the move could unlock £320...

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14 Aug 2023

Urban Councils budget to spend double that of rural on discretionary services

Research, completed by the Rural Services Network has shown that Urban Councils budget to spend double that of rural councils on discretionary services per head for the year 2023 –...

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31 Jul 2023

RSN Chief Executive on BBC Radio 4 talking about rural services

Chief Executive of the Rural Services Network Kerry Booth featured on Farming Today on Monday 31st July talking about rural services. Here’s the discussion she had with presenter Charlotte Smith...

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31 Jul 2023

Feature Blog – Reduction of Banking Services in Rural Areas

The below blog is written for The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) by Jeremy Leggett, policy advisor at ACRE The Fidelity Fiduciary App… If Michael Banks in ‘Mary Poppins’, were to wisely...

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