About ACRE
Action with Communities in Rural England is the national umbrella body of the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN), which operates at national, regional and local level in support of rural communities across the country.
We aim to promote a healthy, vibrant and sustainable rural community sector that is well connected to policy and decision-makers who play a part in delivering this aim.
Our organisational vision is to provide a rural community development centre of expertise that is extensively used by policy makers and practitioners.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) invested in the Rural Community Action Network under a three-year contract (2008-11, administered by ACRE), to deliver strategic advocacy on behalf of rural communities. Capacitybuilders, on behalf of Defra, published case studies on this strategic advocacy relating to Rural Affordable Housing, Empowering Communities and Climate Change.
Defra are now making a further investment in the Rural Community Action Network, over the four years 2011-15, with the aim of gathering information to support national policy-making, particularly in the arenas of:
Rural Housing & Planning
Transport, Facilities & Services
Fuel Poverty & Energy Generation
Rural Broadband.
