A report said that rural areas along the coast were at the forefront of demographic ageing. It proposes two models - the pre-retirement model and the retirement industry model - which represented positive, pro-active strategies to maximize the benefits of this demographic shift.
Source: Jane Atterton, Ageing and Coastal Communities, Centre for Rural Economy/University of Newcastle (0191 222 6623)
Links: Report | CRE press release
Date: 2006-Nov
A report (by an official advisory body) said that the government had made further progress in 'rural proofing': but rural proofing was still not a regular part of policy development, and many central government departments had not embedded the rural dimension sufficiently in their work.
Source: Challenging Government to Meet Rural Needs: Rural proofing monitoring report 2006, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report | Summary | CRC press release
Date: 2006-Nov
A report provided a review and assessment of existing research and documentation relating to rural disadvantage, and the policy responses to it.
Source: Ruth Bradshaw, Jacqui Cuff, Julie Rogers and Lynn Watkins, Rural Disadvantage: Reviewing the Evidence, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report | CRC press release
Date: 2006-Oct
Campaigners published a map showing, in detail and across the whole of England, how likely the local surroundings were to make a visitor feel tranquil. They said that this measurement tool made it possible to protect and enhance rural tranquillity through strategic spatial planning and individual development decisions.
Source: Saving Tranquil Places: How to protect and promote a vital asset, Campaign to Protect Rural England (020 7981 2800)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Oct
A report said that policy-makers in government, and activists in the voluntary and community sectors, needed to recognize and acknowledge the contribution made by people of faith to rural community vibrancy.
Source: Richard Farnell, Jill Hopkinson, David Jarvis, Jeremy Martineau and Jane Ricketts Hein, Faith in Rural Communities: Contributions of social capital to community vibrancy, ACORA Publishing (024 7685 3060)
Links: Report | Summary | C of E press release
Date: 2006-Oct
The government's 'rural advocate' published his first report setting out the concerns that rural people and businesses had raised about life in rural England.
Source: Report of the Rural Advocate, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report | CRC press release
Date: 2006-Oct
The Commons Act 2006 was given Royal assent. The Act was designed to protect commons from development; allow them to be managed more sustainably; improve protection from neglect and abuse; and modernize the registration of commons, to ensure all commons enjoyed the same protection.
Source: Commons Act 2006, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | Defra press release | HOC brief on Bill
Date: 2006-Jul
A report examined the role of post offices in rural communities in Scotland.
Source: Vikki Hilton, Three Case Studies of the Role of the Post Office within Rural Communities in Scotland, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
An annual report examined social, economic, and environmental changes in rural England.
Source: The State of the Countryside 2006, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report | CRC press release
Date: 2006-Jul
A report estimated that England's farmers and agricultural workers did work worth over ?400 million per year in conserving and managing the country's valuable rural scenery, beyond what they did within the framework of agri-environment schemes.
Source: Living Landscapes: Hidden costs of managing the countryside, Campaign to Protect Rural England (020 7981 2800) and National Farmers' Union
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report examined the key challenges facing rural public policy. Rural communities shared the same aspirations as communities elsewhere: but the route to meeting these aspirations needed to be more readily defined. Central government in particular needed to articulate a clearer vision of the social and economic future it wished to see develop in rural areas.
Source: Jane Midgley (ed.), A New Rural Agenda, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jun
A report said that financial poverty, transport, and low take-up of benefits were problems for people in the English countryside. But "traditional attitudes" meant the disadvantaged in the countryside often did not want to draw attention to themselves.
Source: Rural Disadvantage: Priorities for Action, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report | Summary | CRC press release | Speech | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jun
An audit report said that the right to roam had been successfully introduced two months ahead of target. Information on how to use the new right was generally good. But there were lessons to be learned on estimating and managing costs, with expenditure on the scheme almost double the original estimate.
Source: The Right of Access to Open Countryside, HC 1046 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | Ramblers Association press release
Date: 2006-Jun
The Commons Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to protect commons from development; allow them to be managed more sustainably; improve protection from neglect and abuse; and modernize the registration of commons, to ensure all commons enjoyed the same protection.
Source: Commons Bill [HL], Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 29 June 2006, columns 412-485, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2006-Jun
A report sought to map existing and future research into public and green space, to identify gaps in order to help set priorities for future research, and to develop a freely accessible and searchable database of all research.
Source: Green and Public Space Research: Mapping and priorities, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jun
An article said that rural policy in Scotland continued to be dominated by agriculture, and emphasized maintaining small farmers. There was, however, some evidence of a broadening of the agenda.
Source: Michael Keating and Linda Stevenson, 'Rural policy in Scotland after devolution', Regional Studies, Volume 40 Number 3
Links: Article
Date: 2006-May
The government began consultation on the best ways to encourage young people, people with disabilities, and people from inner cities and black and ethnic minority communities, to visit and enjoy local green spaces and the English countryside.
Source: Outdoors for All? Draft diversity action plan, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)
Links: Consultation document | DEFRA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
An article examined the impact on rural issues of devolution to the Welsh Assembly.
Source: Peter Midmore, 'A contradictory combination: the Assembly and rural Wales', Contemporary Wales, Volume 17 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
The Commons Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to protect commons from development; allow them to be managed more sustainably; improve protection from neglect and abuse; and modernize the registration of commons, to ensure all commons enjoyed the same protection.
Source: Commons Bill [HL], Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 18 April 2006, columns 39-91, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | OSS press release
Date: 2006-Apr
A think-tank report said that the planning system should be abolished in favour of a market-led approach. Much agricultural land, including land labelled as green belt, was not especially green, and should be reforested and/or used for housing.
Source: Mischa Balen, Land Economy: How a rethink of our planning policy will benefit Britain, Adam Smith Institute (020 7222 4995)
Links: Report | Summary | BBC report
Date: 2006-Apr
A report examined different forms of disadvantage experienced by older people living in diverse rural settings. It addressed the experience of disadvantage across the lifecourse, and the impacts of such disadvantage on rural older people s quality of life.
Source: Thomas Scharf and Bernadette Bartlam, Rural Disadvantage: Quality of life and disadvantage amongst older people a pilot study, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Apr
A report said that older people were increasingly economically active in rural areas, where part-time work gave them the opportunity to work more flexibly before and in retirement. Most people aged over 65 in rural areas continued to lead active social and domestic lives. Rather than create villages of highly dependent residents, the ageing of the population could help build dynamic and independent communities.
Source: Philip Lowe and Lydia Speakman, The Ageing Countryside: The growing population of rural Britain, Age Concern England (020 8765 7200) and Commission for Rural Communities
Links: Summary | Age Concern press release
Date: 2006-Apr
A report (by an official advisory body) examined the use of the additional revenue raised by reducing the council tax discount on second homes. It made recommendations for change, designed to ensure that rural communities got maximum benefit from the revenue raised.
Source: Michael Oxley and Tim Brown, Evaluation of the Use of Reduced Council Tax Discount from Second Homes by Rural Authorities 2004/2005, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report | CRC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
The Northern Ireland Executive published a a five-year strategic plan, for the period 2006-2011, designed to create a thriving and sustainable rural community and environment.
Source: Strategic Plan 2006-2011, Department for Agriculture and Rural Development/Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0100)
Links: Plan | NIE press release
Date: 2006-Mar
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act was given Royal assent. The Act created two new organizations (Natural England and the Commission for Rural Communities) charged with conserving and enhancing England's valuable natural environment and giving a stronger voice to rural communities.
Source: Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | DEFRA press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A new book examined issues of ethnicity, identity, and "racialized exclusion" in rural Britain.
Source: Sarah Neal and Julian Agyeman (eds.), The New Countryside?: Ethnicity, nation and exclusion in contemporary rural Britain, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Mar
The United Kingdom signed the Council of Europe's European Landscape Convention, dealing with protection, development, and sustainable landscape management.
Source: Press release 24 February 2006, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (020 7238 6000)
Links: DEFRA press release | English Nature press release | Countryside Agency press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A report provided an overview of the housing system as a contributory factor in shaping rural Welsh society and its economy, in order to thereby provide a firmer foundation for considering possible policy responses.
Source: The Role of the Housing System in Rural Wales, Welsh Assembly Government (02920 821718)
Date: 2006-Feb
An article said that rural residents had slightly better mental health than non-rural counterparts.
Source: Scott Weich, Liz Twigg and Glyn Lewis, 'Rural/non-rural differences in rates of common mental disorders in Britain', British Journal of Psychiatry, January 2006
Links: Abstract | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan