Press release

Embargoed until 0001hrs Monday 4 January 2010

A NEW AGENDA FOR
RURAL BRITAIN

The RSN launches its much anticipated Rural Services Manifesto

Today, the Rural Services Network (RSN) launches a comprehensive call to action for politicians prior to the General Election. Among a range of recommendations, the RSN has called on all political parties to close the funding gap between rural and urban schools. At present, pupils in urban areas currently get double the funding of their rural counterparts.

The RSN, a group of over 250 public and private sector service providers, has published the Rural Services Manifesto to influence the debate over the future of rural areas.

The Manifesto calls on political parties to give a fair deal to those living in rural areas, where governments have continually failed to recognise the difficulty rural people face accessing vital services.

The Manifesto focuses on ten key themes:

• Delivering growth to rural economies and communities
• Safeguarding rural schools
• Health and social care in rural areas
• Robust flood defences
• Affordable housing in rural areas
• The digital future in rural communities
• Safe, reliable and affordable transport solutions
• Service provision in rural areas
• Safeguarding and expanding rural proofing
• Overcoming rural fuel poverty

The full manifesto can be downloaded by clicking here (1.64MB pdf file).

Councillor Roger Begy OBE, Chairman of the RSN and Leader of Rutland County Council said:

“For too long, metropolitan policy-makers have failed to understand that the needs of the countryside are often very different to those of the city. Particularly in a time of public spending restraint, policy-makers need to be reminded that, due to the failure of the funding formulae to recognise the costs of providing services across rural areas, many services survive on a shoestring, which means that even small cuts can seriously undermine them.”

“The countryside is not just a retreat for well-off or retired people. Nor is it – despite the importance of both – only inhabited by farmers and tourists. The countryside is a living and working part of Britain, where a diverse range of people go to live, work, and raise a family. The value which rural communities bring to the British economy, society, and culture should not be underestimated by anyone.”

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1. National and local spokespeople are available for interview. Please contact Daniel Rosenstone on 020 7067 0751/07779150833 or Jon McLeod on 07775 530978.

2. The Rural Services Network will be officially handing the manifesto to political parties during a reception in the House of Commons on the 6th January 2010. If you wish to join that event, please contact Daniel Rosenstone at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 0207 067 0751.

Places are limited.

3. The Rural Services Network is a group of more than 250 organisations working together to improve the delivery of rural services across England. Further information and a full list of members is available at www.rsnonline.org.uk. Copies of the Manifesto are available by clicking here (1.64MB pdf) or on request. The two operating arms of the network are the Sparsity Partnership for Authorities Delivering Rural Services (SPARSE Rural) and the Rural Services Partnership.

4. The Rural Services Network seeks to establish best practice across the spectrum of rural service provision. The network has representation across the complete range of rural services, including local authorities, public bodies, businesses, charities and voluntary groups. We are devoted to safeguarding and improving services in rural communities across England. We are the only national network specifically focusing on this vital aspect of rural life.

5. The Rural Services Network exists to ensure services delivered to the communities of predominantly rural England are as strong and as effective as possible. The term 'predominately rural' refers to counties and Local Authority districts with at least 50 percent of their population living in rural settlements (ie. rural towns, villages, hamlets and dispersed dwellings) as identified in the Office for National Statistics' rural definition, and including larger market towns as identified in the Defra classification of local authority districts. The rural definition and classification were devised by the Rural Evidence Research Centre (RERC) at Birkbeck College. Further information on these can be found on the RERC website at www.rerc.ac.uk.