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Bookings are now officially open for the National Rural Conference 2025, which will take place online from Monday 15 to Thursday 18 September.
This is the Rural Services Network’s flagship event of the year, bringing together rural decision-makers, practitioners, and advocates for four days of live, interactive sessions focused on the future of rural communities.
Click here to book!
Following calls from the RSN for more investment in Rural Market Towns (see Bulletin 2.10.2023) after the government unveiled its Long-tern Plan for Towns, the Industrial Communities Alliance has added its voice to the conversation.
Analysis carried out by the Alliance, which represents Local Authorities in industrial areas, shows that whilst the government says the money is targeted to towns in ‘greatest need’, the way that has been calculated is unfair.
The findings show that “the selection process has been clumsy”, detailing that:
It goes on to say that: “The government is trying to target towns according to need, so it would be unreasonable to expect all or most towns to benefit from the new initiative. But if ‘need’ is the key consideration the initiative might have been expected to cover a far higher proportion of towns and a far greater population. ‘Need’ extends far beyond just this handful of towns.”
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Chief Executive, Kerry Booth, says this is the exact issue facing rural areas:
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Read the report from the Industrial Communities Alliance here.