Rural Economy Spotlight - September 2025

A quarterly bulletin facilitated by your membership of the Rural Services Network highlighting a selection of current rural economic development news, issues and opportunities

Rural Economy & Regeneration – Driving Growth And Opportunity

A strong rural economy underpins services, opportunities and local life. RSN’s 2025 Rural Conference opens on Monday 15th September with a deep dive into regeneration and inclusive rural growth. Confirmed speakers include Minister Daniel Zeichner MP, Minister of State (Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs).

Covering a range of topics, the conference has something for everyone interested in rural issues and solutions and runs from 15th to 18th September.

Details of the full conference programme and booking information are available at: The National Rural Conference 2025 - Rural Services Network

Landowner contributions to social value

Up to £8.7 billion in social value is generated by landowners for rural communities each year according to a new report.

Funded by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE), the report uses a Social Return on Investment approach to capture and estimate the social value created by CLA landowners.

Paul Courtney, Professor of Social Economy at the Countryside & Community Research Institute (CCRI0, the lead NICRE team member for this work, said:

"Our research sheds light on the many ways landowners contribute to rural life beyond their economic role – supporting community events, providing affordable housing, or investing in green space and education. These are real, meaningful contributions that are often overlooked."

NICRE state:

“The findings show that landowners, particularly those with larger holdings, often invest their own resources to support their communities – whether through installing broadband, supporting apprenticeships, or maintaining public access to land.”

You can read the full report here.

Future of the Post Office

Government has launched a public consultation that seeks views on the future of the Post Office, from the services it provides, how government modernise and strengthen the network, through to how they change the culture and the way in which the Post Office is managed.

Government state that “responses to this consultation will be used to understand what customers, communities and postmasters would like to see from a modern Post Office, to help shape the company’s future.”

This consultation closes on 6 October 2025. All the relevant information is available at this link.

Rural Ambition – new ACRE strategy launched

At the end of July, ACRE – Action with Communities in Rural England – launched their new strategy for 2025-30.

Their defined vision for the future is of rural communities that are thriving, inclusive and sustainable, with the support they need to ensure equitable outcomes for everyone.

The stated ambition is that: “by 2030, we will have helped to improve the quality of life for rural communities and supported those in greatest need.” This will be achieved through a focus on three areas: campaigning for rural communities; enabling local action; and unlocking support for people most in need.

You can read more and access a copy of the new strategy here.

RSN 2025 seminar programme – booking open

The 2025 RSN online seminar programme continues to prove very popular. There are two remaining sessions running during the rest of the year on the following topics:

• Rural planning – 5 November
• Rural health & care – 26 November

To book a place on any of the seminars follow this link.

Latest round of Green Heat Network Fund opens

The Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) is a capital grant fund that supports:

• the commercialisation and construction of new low and zero carbon (LZC) heat networks (including the supply of cooling)
• the retrofitting and expansion of existing heat networks

It aims to develop and grow the heat network market and to address some of the challenges of decarbonising the UK’s heat sector.

The GHNF provides capital grant funding to organisations in the public, private and third sectors in England.

The deadline for applications is 7 November 2025 and you can read more via this link.

Rural England statistical digest available

The Statistical Digest of Rural England is a collection of statistics on a range of social and economic topics and provides broad comparisons between Rural and Urban areas by settlement type.

Prepared by DEFRA, the Digest is structured into thematic reports and incorporates the previously separate publication the Rural Economic Bulletin.

The Digest consists of the following thematic reports:

• Population
• Housing
• Health and Wellbeing
• Communities and Households
• Connectivity and Accessibility
• Education, Qualifications and Training
• Rural Economic Bulletin
• Energy

You can access all the contents at the following link: About the Digest and Rural Definitions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The most recent rural economic statistics can be found at this link.

Local heritage sites receive funding boost

37 local heritage sites will receive grants to help with repairs, in many cases helping turn historic buildings into the vibrant community spaces.

The government funding will support repair works and conservation of heritage buildings at risk, restoring local heritage to ensure it can be enjoyed for many generations to come.

The Heritage at Risk Fund is part of the £270 million Arts Everywhere Fund, which was announced by the Culture Secretary earlier this year.

Recipients include MusicAbility Centre in Penzance, which will receive more than £400,000 to restore the music centre and deliver music to the community.

You can read more and see the full list of recipients here.

Boost your community business with community shares

The Booster Fund, delivered by Power to Change, supports new and existing community businesses in England that are at all stages of a community share issue.

This includes the very early stages of exploring whether it’s the right choice, through planning a community share issue to being ready to launch, or in exceptional cases, recently launched.

The programme provides:

• Development grantsaveraging £5,000 to prepare a community share offer; financial planning, governance support, marketing costs and being awarded the Community Shares Standard Mark
• Match equity investment– typically matching pound for pound up to £25,000 invested by the Booster Fund providing the minimum share offer target is achieved

All the details are available at this link.

Appointments made to National Park and National Landscape Conservation Boards

A series of appointments to England’s National Park Authorities and National Landscape Conservation Boards have recently been made.

In total, 17 new members have been appointed to seven National Park Authority Boards and 11 members appointed to two National Landscape Conservation Boards.

If you are interested to see who has been appointed, follow this link.

Local Net Zero Hubs support available to councils and communities

The Local Net Zero Hubs programme helps local authorities and communities in England to play a leading role in decarbonisation, supporting local authorities to develop net zero projects and attract commercial investment.

Find out more about the Local Net Zero Hub in your area follow the relevant link below:

• North East and Yorkshire Local Net Zero Hub
• North West Local Net Zero Hub
• Midlands Local Net Zero Hub
• South West Local Net Zero Hub
• South East Local Net Zero Hub

Further information on the support available can be found at this link.

Local business organisations – keep calm and sign up!

RSN exists to enable the issues facing the rural areas of England to be identified, information and good practice to be shared and government to be challenged to address the needs and build on the opportunities which abound in rural areas.  We have a number of Chambers of Trade, Commerce and Local Business Networks who are members of RSN and currently receive our bulletins.  If there is a business organisation in your area who you think would find our bulletins useful, please pass this bulletin onto them and ask them to contact Andy Dean with their contact details so we can ensure they are included in future distributions.

Future editions of the Rural Economy Spotlight

The next edition of this bulletin will be distributed in December 2025.  If you have any suggestions as to future content or would like to submit a short article for inclusion, please contact Andy Dean.