Services
12 Jan 2018
Post offices given community status
Some 3000 post office counters have been designated “community branches” as they deliver services to rural residents, says the government. Business minister Andrew Griffiths was responding to a parliamentary written question about...
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08 Jan 2018
Pressure mounts over fairer funding
The government is facing renewed calls for fairer funding for rural communities. It follows the announcement of its provisional local finance settlement, which is due to be finalised over the...
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05 Jan 2018
Rural police receive less funding
Rural areas continue to receive less police funding than urban areas, says the Rural Services Network. Using 2016 population figures, the network has compared total direct resource funding per head...
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04 Jan 2018
‘Travel hubs’ to connect rural villages
Three villages could become “rural travel hubs” to improve rural transport in Cambridgeshire. The pilot hubs, to be funded by the Greater Cambridge Partnership, will be travel interchanges tailored for...
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01 Jan 2018
Rural families spend £3k more on essentials
Rural households spend about £3000 more per year than their urban counterparts on essentials, suggests a study. Inflation when it comes to goods and services in rural areas is also...
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28 Dec 2017
Bigger team to combat rural crime
A rural crime team in Derbyshire has helped resolve crimes worth £120,000 in its first six months. The dedicated police team, which is based at Matlock, has been at the...
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27 Dec 2017
Rural residents fear fuel poverty
Crippling fuel bills mean many rural householders are too scared to put their heating on. More than three in ten Britons – many of them in rural areas – are...
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22 Dec 2017
Rural cash machine fears rejected
The UK’s biggest ATM network has rejected claims that changes in its fee structure could result in the widespread loss of cash machines in rural locations. LINK has been consulting...
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21 Dec 2017
Faster broadband to be legal right
Everyone in the UK will have a legal right to broadband speeds of at least 10Mbps by 2020, the government has announced. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport...
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20 Dec 2017
Cautious welcome for provisional settlement
The Rural Services Network has given a cautious welcome to the government’s provisional local finance settlement for local authorities. But the network has also warned warned that more must be...
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