National Rural Conference Launches Major New Survey to Champion Rural Voices

Today at the National Rural Conference, the Rural Services Network (RSN) has launched the Delivering for All Research Project – a landmark research project designed to capture the experiences, challenges, and priorities of people living in rural England.

With members, partners, and stakeholders gathered from across the country, the launch marks the beginning of a comprehensive national survey exploring rural life across housing, healthcare, transport, digital connectivity, planning, and environmental priorities.

The project aims to:

• Assess how accessible key services are to rural households.
• Identify priority issues facing rural communities.
• Examine perspectives on planning, development, and net zero.
• Build an evidence base to inform policy advocacy and service improvement.

The survey, open to residents in villages, small towns, hamlets and isolated rural areas will take just 8–10 minutes to complete and is entirely anonymous. Responses will directly inform policy discussions with Government departments, Select Committees, and MPs representing rural constituencies.

Following the survey, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and community case studies will be undertaken in October. A full research report will be published later this year, alongside targeted policy briefings and community feedback reports.

The Delivering for All Research Project builds on previous research by RSN and Citizens Advice, creating a powerful longitudinal evidence base to track changes in rural service delivery and living standards over time.

Kerry Booth, Chief Executive of the Rural Services Network: "Everybody, wherever they live, deserves equal access to life’s essentials — whether that’s seeing a doctor when they need to, having a safe and affordable home, being able to get to work or college, or connecting online. Yet too often rural communities are treated as an afterthought, left battling extra costs, distance and poor infrastructure. This research is about changing that. It will ensure that everybody’s voice is heard, and that rural realities are put at the heart of national decisions, not pushed to the margins".

Rural residents are encouraged to take part in the survey here

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