The annual monitoring report on the national rural services standard said that the presumption against the closure of rural schools and post offices had been effective in minimizing - though not eliminating - the loss of important community assets.
Source: Rural Services Standard: Fifth Progress Report 2005/06, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (web publication only)
Links: Report | Table | CRC press release
Date: 2006-Dec
The government announced an investment programme of up to £1.7 billion over 5 years, subject to European Union approval, to support the post office network and enable the Post Office to carry out a restructuring programme. It began consultation on the future of the network, saying that it expected 2,500 post office closures at a mix of urban and rural sites.
Source: Press release 14 December 2006, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5000) | The Post Office Network: A Consultation Document, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500)
Links: DTI press release | Hansard | Consultation document | Postcomm press release | CRC press release | Help the Aged press release | Age Concern press release | FSB press release | LGA press release | CCBS press release
Date: 2006-Dec
An article examined the delivery of housing association rented homes in rural Scotland, and whether deficiencies related to policy weakness or implementation problems.
Source: Madhu Satsangi, '"The best laid plans "? An assessment of housing association provision in rural Scotland', Policy & Politics, Volume 34 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Oct
The postal services regulator said that the government had to make 'tough and overdue' decisions about the future of the loss-making network of 14,000 post offices. It needed to take into account the wider social role played by post offices in local communities, as well as the imperative of establishing a sustainable, stable business.
Source: Post Offices at the Crossroads, Postal Services Commission (020 7593 2100)
Links: Report | Postcomm press release | CCBS press release | Age Concern press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Oct
A report said that older people feared financial and social isolation if the Royal Mail were forced into a widespread closure programme affecting the network of rural post offices.
Source: Older People s Message to the Government: Rural post offices are a lifeline and centre of the community, Age Concern England (020 8765 7200)
Links: Report | Age Concern press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
A report examined a range of support service models intended to help prevent homelessness, or to resolve homelessness when it did occur, in rural and remote rural areas in Scotland.
Source: Mark Bevan and Julie Rugg, Providing Homelessness Support Services in Rural and Remote Rural Areas: Exploring models for providing more effective local support, Communities Scotland (0131 313 0044)
Date: 2006-Sep
A report examined the cost and range of service provision in rural areas. It concluded that a cross-section of council services cost more to provide in rural areas than in towns and cities.
Source: Rita Hale, The Effect of Rurality on the Cost of Service Provision, Sparsity Partnership for Authorities delivering Rural Services (01584 813201)
Links: Summary | SPARSE press release
Date: 2006-Sep
A think-tank report said that teenagers in rural areas were struggling to get the education and training opportunities they needed, and were at a disadvantage compared with their peers in towns and cities. Many would not even consider taking up a college place, because they could not support themselves following a move to urban areas.
Source: Jane Midgley and Ruth Bradshaw, Should I Stay or Should I Go? Rural youth transitions, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Aug
The government published a review of public services in rural areas in England.
Source: Rural Services Review: Reviewing standards 2006, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)
Links: Report | DEFRA press release
Date: 2006-Jul
A study examined the housing and support needs of older people in rural areas. Meeting needs in the variety of circumstances found in different rural areas required specific and tailored approaches which were often more difficult and costly than in urban areas.
Source: Mark Bevan, Karen Croucher, David Rhodes, Peter Fletcher and Moyra Riseborough, The Housing and Support Needs of Older People in Rural Areas, Centre for Housing Policy/University of York (01904 433691)
Date: 2006-Jun
A report said that building new affordable housing offered the greatest value for money in terms of solving the lack of affordable housing in rural areas: but making the most of existing rural housing stock was also worthwhile. It highlighted approaches taken in a number of areas which had increased the use of existing rural properties, and made a number of recommendations for maximizing the use of existing rural housing stock.
Source: The Use of Existing Housing Stock in Rural England, Housing Corporation (020 7393 2000)
Links: Report | Housing Corporation press release
Date: 2006-May
A report examined the priorities of rural communities in Scotland for local service improvement, in terms of both access and quality.
Source: Accent Scotland and Natasha Mauthner, Service Priority, Accessibility and Quality in Rural Scotland, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
An inquiry report highlighted concern and frustration within rural communities at the lack of effective action to address their housing problems. It also set out recommendations for addressing rural people's concerns and aspirations for the future. A linked discussion paper said that 14-19,000 affordable homes were needed each year for five years in order to meet expected new housing needs.
Source: Rural Housing: A place in the countryside?, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900) | Calculating Housing Needs in Rural England, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency
Links: Inquiry report | Summary | Discussion paper | CRC press release
Date: 2006-May
A report (by an official commission) examined the scale, nature and implications of the shortage of affordable housing for rural communities in England. It said that much good work was already being done: but to meet the scale of the need, the issue needed to be addressed in its own right, and with urgency, rather than only after urban needs had been met. It called for a big increase in subsidized housing for low-income households.
Source: Final Report, Affordable Rural Housing Commission (020 7238 6000)
Links: Report | Summary | DCLG press release | RHT press release | BSA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A report said that the government needed to address the acute housing problems facing growing numbers of families priced out of booming rural property markets. The opportunity existed in most rural areas for additional homes to be built, and for a significant proportion of the cost to be covered by planning-gain mechanisms (with help from council tax raised from reductions in discounts for second homes).
Source: Richard Best and Mark Shucksmith, Homes for Rural Communities: Report of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Rural Housing Policy Forum, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (01904 629241)
Links: Report | Summary | JRF press release
Date: 2006-Apr
A report by a committee of MPs expressed concern over delays by the government in deciding whether the Post Office should retain the contract to provide the post office card account (a basic account handling pension and benefit payments); and about the effects on the Post Office of the possible loss of the account.
Source: Post Office Card Account: Successor Arrangements, Twelfth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 1052, House of Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Consumer Focus press release | LGA press release | Countryside Alliance press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jan
The opposition Conservative Party announced plans to scrap central housebuilding targets. Local communities would be rewarded for building homes by a central government grant matching the extra money that the area got through council tax, for 6 years. Social housing tenants who wanted to relocate would be able to demand that their housing association sell their property and use the proceeds to buy another one of their choice. Local housing trusts would be granted powers to expand villages by up to 10 per cent over 10 years.
Source: Speech by Grant Shapps MP (Shadow Housing Minister), 6 October 2009
Links: Text of speech | Conservative Party press release | CIH press release | National Housing Federation press release | New Start report | Inside Housing report (1) | Inside Housing report (2)
Date: 2006-Jan
A report (by an official advisory body) examined the effects of public service reform on those who lived in rural England, paying particular attention to their likely impact on disadvantaged people. In some cases the reforms might well make accessing services for these people harder, not easier. The report called for public service reform to be seen through a 'rural lens', particularly by those who were commissioning services and allocating resources.
Source: Tackling Rural Disadvantage Through How Public Services Are Reformed, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
An official advisory body published a briefing paper that examined how rural housing was being affected by the economic recession.
Source: Rural Housing: Briefing note, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Paper
Date: 2006-Jan