Matthew Taylor Review on rural economy and affordable housing

The Prime Minister asked Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro and St Austell, to conduct a review on how land use and planning can better support rural business and deliver affordable housing.  His report, published today by Communities and Local Government,  responds to the realities of life in rural areas. 

ACRE warmly welcomes the review conclusions and the measures which aim to deliver a radical change in the way planning rules regard the sustainability of rural communities.  We are especially pleased that communities themselves are being challenged to decide on solutions to lack of affordable housing and loss of key services. 

To help communities tackle this, there is welcome acknowledgement of the work of rural housing enablers and concern over the depletion of their network across the country. 

We are especially pleased that the recommendations will give a boost to the role of parish and town councils in tackling land use planning and that the stipulation of local support for small scale developments in villages can be underpinned by the use of community-led planning undertaken by local residents.

view press release from Communities and Local Government

view ACRE briefing

State of the countryside 2008

The Commission for Rural Communities has today published its tenth annual State of the countryside report. The report highlights both the advantages and disadvantages to living and working in rural England. It also demonstrates that within rural areas themselves there is a growing inequality between those living in different types of rural area. 

The report provides a number of useful key facts which include: 

• It is estimated that 9.6 million people were resident in rural settlements in England in 2005; this equates to 19.1% of England’s population.

• The population of rural England continues to rise at a faster rate than in the country as a whole. Most of this increase is due to internal migration by people moving out of cities rather than different birth and death rates.

• Use of broadband is higher in those rural areas with high levels of commuting and lowest in sparse rural areas. Rural internet users are more likely to use it for accessing services.

• Rural residents travel greater distances and, out of necessity, more of their travel is by car.

• Rural areas have a significantly higher carbon production rate per person than urban areas.  This is principally due to the generally higher income and per capita consumption and because of the higher emissions from heating of homes and car use in rural areas. 

• The English countryside is capable of providing significant quantities of energy from renewable sources including wind and biomass.  But there is growing public debate about the wisdom of diverting land from food to energy production.

view report here

 16/7/08

Community Empowerment White Paper

Communities in control; Real People, real power

• a new duty on councils to promote democracy.   
• a range of measures to increase visibility and accountability in local services.   
• a review of redress in council services for when things go wrong. 
• support for councils at the community level, such as parish councils, and will introduce a new right for local people to appeal to the Secretary of State if their council denies them the opportunity to establish a community council.
• extension of the ‘duty to involve’ across a range of public agencies and bodies, so that publicly-funded bodies must do more to engage with the public they serve
• the launch a £70 million Communitybuilders scheme to support community organisations.  
• the removal of some of the barriers for faith-based organisations to supply goods and services to local authorities.

The White Paper also announces a £7.5 million Empowerment Fund for national third sector organisations.  This Fund covers areas such as innovative schemes for young people who would otherwise not have the opportunity to gain community leadership skills, involvement in planning and social enterprise.

Click here to view

Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) responds to the community empowerment White Paper

9/7/08

CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

ACRE is the national umbrella organisation representing the interests of its members, the 38 Rural Community Councils and 8 Regional organisations.

The current Chairman of ACRE will be standing down in November 2008 and the Board of Trustees is seeking to appoint a new Chairperson this summer. more details here

Community-led planning and the forthcoming Empowerment White Paper - click here for the latest submission from ACRE and partners.

__________ To read the full reports or more about the ACRE Standards

Peer Reviewer Training ACRE is pleased to announce that the first accredited Peer Reviewer Training course will run in October 2008. Community Lincs Community Lincs has successfully achieved accreditation at Level 2 of the ACRE Good Practice Quality Standards by Peer Review.  ACRE  is recognised by NOCN as a training accreditation centre ACRE is now a recognised accreditation centre for the National Open College Network.  ACRE’s Peer Reviewer training is the first of our courses to be formally recognised by NOCN.  It has been awarded 4 credits, at A level standard.  We will be running the first accredited Peer Reviewer training course in October this year. Additional accredited training will be developed by ACRE’s policy team over the next few months.

ACRE's response to Unlocking the Talents ACRE has submitted a briefing paper in conjunction with Action for Market Towns and NALC in advance of the publication of the Community Empowerment White Paper

Bigger voices for rural areas - Government body press release  

4 March 2008  

One North East have announced that rural communities in their region could have a stronger network of support to turn to for help in running local services in village halls, backing enterprise and bidding for environmental funding. The North East England RCCs, Tees Valley, Northumberland and Durham, have been developing their links as a regional RCC network to

give rural areas a stronger voice in planning and policy.  The work is supported in part by a £50,860 grant from regional development agency One NorthEast. The work is in line with many of the other regions in England which already have strong regional RCC networks.

Sue Shaw, an ACRE trustee, who has been working with the three RCCs in the region, said: "There is a real enthusiasm and optimism about working together to achieve greater recognition of rural issues in North East England. We advocate for appropriate support for our rural communities, building on the long term community development work RCCs have been doing in a wide variety of projects in the region."

To see the full press release click here

For more information on RCANs regional bodies click here  

Rural Advocate reports on realities of rural England

3 March 2008

ACRE warmly welcomes the report of the Rural Advocate which outlines a mixed future for England's rural communities. The work of the Rural Advocate continues to be crucial in reminding policy-makers that there is a significant proportion of the rural population whose circumstances and needs still go largely unrecognised by government. However, as the report also states, there are many successful initiatives undertaken by local people, supported by local government and our Rural Community Action Network, which can make a real difference to the lives of rural people, provided they receive greater recognition within national programmes and policies.

For more information on the report click here