Affordable housing keeps villages alive

Many villages face a challenging future - with local services under threat as people are priced out of rural communities. ACRE and members of the Rural Community Action Network have contributed to this joint publication led by the National Housing Federation with support from the Commission for Rural Communities and other national rural-focused organisations.  It shows how just a few affordable homes on a suitable site can breathe fresh life into a village and ensure local people can stay in their community, whatever their age or circumstances.

The publication aimed at rural communities does what it says on the tin, highlighting many case studies across rural England showing the issues of solutions for people in housing need living in those areas. It dispels some of the myths about affordable housing as well as showing the great benefits brought to people and rural communities when small affordable housing schemes are built.

ACRE is very pleased in the interest from Rural Housing Enablers and others working in rural housing to help distribute copies of the publication to rural communities.  We hope that that Affordable housing keeps villages alive will help support these crucial housing enabling roles and rural affordable housing in the future. view publication here

Adapting to climate change; a guide for local councils

Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have worked collaboratively to produce a new guide for local parish and town councils entitled: Adapting to climate change; a guide for local councils.

View Adaptation guide press release

View Adapting to climate change: A guide for local councils

New Commissioning Publication for the community sector

We are pleased that ACRE in a partnership of Community Sector organisations called Kindle has published Commissioning and the Community Sector – a Talking Trusts publication. It has been written for community sector organisations to help them better understand how local authority commissioners are working to improve outcomes for children, young people and families and how they can make themselves “commissioning ready”.

Your Community Building Counts - This publication is an ACRE document in conjunction with the Every Action Counts programme which is funded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The programme is aimed at engaging national and local voluntary and community sector organisations across England in work to protect and improve our environment and to deliver sustainable development. Community buildings are important centres for community activity and provide a great resource for local people. By hosting a range of local groups and activities they can have an influence far beyond the people that manage and run them by demonstrating to local communities the changes that anyone can make. Click here to view

Changing the way we work - A guide to greening your office. This book is supported by a substantial amount of on-line resources. Click here to view

The future is rural too Since the beginning of 2009, ACRE has worked with a coalition of relevant national organisations to develop a common vision for Rural England, based around the recommendations in Matthew Taylor MP’s 2008 report to government. The members of the coalition include the Local Government Association, Town & Country Planning Association, Commission for Rural Communities and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.  The coalition’s prospectus The future is rural too argues that “for 50 years or more, policy has undervalued rural England and failed to meet the needs of rural communities – and therefore of the nation.  In hindsight, the result is starkly apparent.  Rural communities have slowly but relentlessly become less and less sustainable and less and less self-sufficient.”

News releases

ACRE responds to important issues by making news releases available to the national media, other organisations and individuals.  If you require further details on any news release or other media-related topics please contact acrepress@acre.org.uk

Capacitybuilders launches report on Defra's investment in RCAN

Capacitybuilders has released its evaluation report, confirming that the £10.35 million Defra investment in the Rural Community Action Network, delivered by ACRE, is meeting its objective to improve the way in which the needs of rural communities are addressed by national, regional and local government. read more...

Community Led Planning can help new local councils

A new toolkit published by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) recommends Community Led Planning (CLP) as a means by which newly created local councils can engage with people in their area to identify and prioritise future work.   read more...

Charity Commission Endorsement

Oxfordshire RCC is the first RCAN member to be accredited as meeting the additional Charity Commission requirements in Edition 3 of the ACRE Standard. For more information about Charity Commission endorsement click here.

ACRE joins national Broadband Campaign promoting better access to all

A new national broadband campaign “The Final Third First” has been launched with ACRE as a founding member. 
Read more here …

Capacitybuilders launches report on Defra's investment in RCAN

Capacitybuilders has released its evaluation report, confirming that the £10.35 million Defra investment in the Rural Community Action network, delivered by ACRE, is meeting its objective to improve the way in which the needs of rural communities are addressed by national, regional and local government.

The initiative has enabled RCAN members to influence government policy-makers and delivery bodies in order to  bring rural needs more fully into mainstream policy making. These successes included:

• Improving service delivery plans: so that they better suit the needs of rural communities.
• Securing funding: tapping into external sources, so that rural communities can access funding streams for acitivites such as improvements to community buildings.
• Improvements to policy processes: notably where rural proofing or community led planning approaches have been adopted by local authorities and partnerships.

 ACRE's Chief Executive, Sylvia Brown said  "The Rural Community Action Network has also been able, through this contract, to generate stronger joint working relationships between members.  The investment has created a step change in the ability to access grass roots intelligence and helped to provide a comprehensive picture of the state of rural community advocacy across the country.  We are pleased that the independent evaluation has reinforced the value of the work of the network on behalf of rural communities".

The full text of the Capacitybuilders press release can be accessed here......

Click on the following links to view the executive summary (7 pages) and full evaluation report (113 pages).

Charity Commission endorses ACRE Standard (Edition 3)

To read the Charity Commission press release click here

News Release: New spur to community action in securing a sustainable future for all

After almost a year of work, representatives of the 3rd Sector and four government departments have completed their exploration of how charities and not for profit organisations can contribute to addressing future global and local challenges. 

The full report can be found by clicking on the following link. Ministerial Taskforce Report

View ACRE News Release

Report celebrates the success of volunteers managing buildings, but highlights a fragile future

read more here

view the full press release here

Rural Community Buildings in England 2009, Key Findings

Good news for rural community buildings

Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN) welcome today’s announcement about future funding from the BIG Lottery Fund. A dedicated capital funding stream is expected to be launched in the Autumn as part of the BIG Lottery Reaching Communities programme. view press release

Good news for village and community halls in the North West

ACRE welcomed the announcement by United Utilities Water Company that they are to continue their moratorium on surface water charging for a further year and extend it to include eligible village halls and community centres. view News Release

ACRE joins national Broadband Campaign promoting better access to all

A new national broadband campaign “The Final Third First” has been launched with ACRE as a founding member.  The campaign - founded by a broad range of broadband organisations and champions of wider community interests - will lobby the Government to provide adequate and effective broadband access for the “Final Third” of the UK which currently lacks this vital infrastructure. Rural areas are disproportionately represented in that figure. The campaign will focus on ensuring that all those in the “Final Third” will be able to access Government online services by 2012 and then to facilitate the move towards next generation access.
Read more here …

Adapting to climate change; a guide for local councils

Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have worked collaboratively to produce a new guide for local parish and town councils entitled: Adapting to climate change; a guide for local councils.

The Earth’s climate is changing. Climate change constitutes one of the greatest social, environmental and economic threats to society.  Issues such as health, housing, transport, waste, food production and equality are completely linked with environmental conditions. We need to understand how our climate might change so that we can prepare. The impacts of climate change, including flooding and drought, will vary from place to place meaning that action at local and regional level is vitally important to help reduce future risk.

View Adaptation guide press release

View Adapting to climate change: A guide for local councils

New spur to community action in securing a sustainable future for all

After almost a year of work, representatives of the 3rd Sector and four government departments have completed their exploration of how charities and not for profit organisations can contribute to addressing future global and local challenges. 

The Ministerial Task Force on the Role of the Third Sector in addressing Climate Change, the Environment and Sustainable Development have produced a report on how this can be achieved.

The report covers the role of the sector in providing leadership and support and in developing green jobs and more sustainable procurement practices within public service delivery.  It recognises that, although climate change has dominated the work of many environmental groups, large numbers of organisations involved in supporting social and community action are not yet fully engaged. 

The full report can be found by clicking on the following link. Ministerial Taskforce Report

The Ministerial Task Force on the role of the Third Sector in addressing Climate Change, the Environment and Sustainable Development was convened in April 2009.  A joint secretariat from NCVO and Green Alliance provided support for the Task Force, whose members included representatives of:

• Department for Communities and Local Government
• Department for Energy and Climate Change
• Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• Office of the Third Sector.

View ACRE News Release