From 1 April 2011, the CRC’s statutory functions of Advice, Advocacy and Watchdog will be carried out by the Commissioners supported by a very small flexible team.  The streamlined CRC will act as a critical friend to the new unit and will carry out a significantly slimmed down work programme to complement the RCPU’s business plan.

The streamlined CRC will have a new website and address by 1 April 2011 – www.defra.gov.uk/crc – in readiness for the new ways of working.

This website is now being archived, so that our work and evidence base from the last five years may continue to be accessed and used by our many stakeholders and partners.

Despite this, the recently published outcome of the consultation is disappointing from a rural perspective.

Read our letter to Jonathan Djanogly MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice.

Market towns are an important locus for many rural areas. They act as a hub for rural economic and service activity and are therefore at the centre of changes currently taking place in rural England.

However, towns are in some ways the ‘missing link’ in England’s policy landscape. The current rural and urban definition, upon which most government spatial analysis is based, omits the separate consideration of small, medium and large sized towns. This has meant that statistics have not tracked social and economic trends as they impact towns. Perhaps as a result, towns have been generally overlooked from both a research and policy perspective.

This State of the countryside update seeks to address this gap by studying a range of topics covering broad themes of population, services, business health, employment and deprivation. The analysis on which the report is based comes from work undertaken by the Rural Evidence Research Centre (RERC) at Birkbeck College, University of London on behalf of CRC.

This update confirms the importance of towns in the fabric and health of rural life.

Key findings:

• In 2009 the population living in Small Towns was 11.4 million or 22% of the England population.
• Between 2001 and 2009 overall the population growth in Small Towns was 4.3% compared to 4.7% for England as a whole.
• Despite overall population growth (469,000) between 2001 and 2009, this figure disguises declines in the age group of young families (30-44) and a larger growth in retired population. Moreover one in three Small Towns experienced a decrease in population.
• Nationally, the majority of Banks and Building Societies, Petrol Stations, Post Offices, Secondary Schools and Supermarkets are located in Small Towns.
• Amongst towns of all sizes Small Towns saw the lowest percentage loss (-22.5%) of Post Offices between 2000 and 2010.
• Those out of work and seeking help into employment, training or accessing benefit payments in Small Towns and smaller settlements, will have to travel, on average, greater than 6km or more to access face to face Job Centres Plus services.
• Small Towns have the second highest proportion of national businesses (21%) and employees (17%) after Metropolitan areas (33% and 36%).
• Between 2008 and 2010 Small Towns experienced a 3% decline in the number of businesses compared to a national average decrease of 2.7%.
• The London (67%) and North East (72%) regions have the greatest proportions of the most deprived Small Towns whereas the East of England (14%) and the South East (12%) regions have the least.

Download ‘State of the countryside update: Market towns’

State of the countryside update focusing on Market towns.

Market towns are an important locus for many rural areas. They act as a hub for rural economic and service activity and are therefore at the centre of changes currently taking place in rural England.

However, towns are in some ways the ‘missing link’ in England’s policy landscape. The current rural and urban definition, upon which most government spatial analysis is based, omits the separate consideration of small, medium and large sized towns. This has meant that statistics have not tracked social and economic trends as they impact towns. Perhaps as a result, towns have been generally overlooked from both a research and policy perspective.

This State of the countryside update seeks to address this gap by studying a range of topics covering broad themes of population, services, business health, employment and deprivation. The analysis on which the report is based comes from work undertaken by the Rural Evidence Research Centre (RERC) at Birkbeck College, University of London on behalf of CRC.

This update confirms the importance of towns in the fabric and health of rural life.

This work was the result of a project commissioned by Defra and managed by the CRC to advise those government organisations who agreed to participate on the incorporation of rural within policy cycles.

Download ‘Rural Champions – Supporting Rural Fairness within Government’

Download ‘A Guide to using the ONS Rural Urban Definition’

Download ‘Reaching the Rural Constituency’

Download ‘Rural Proofing Policy & Programme Development’

Some of the messages from this Rural Champions project are also reflected in the analysis and recommendations within the OECD’s recent report on rural policy in England and together these two reports will be an important input to Defra’s new statement on policy in rural England expected later in the spring.

We wish to thank Rural Innovation, consultants to the project and the staff who worked closely with Rob and his team for their time and enthusiasm for this project.

Download ‘Rural Champions – Supporting Rural Fairness within Government’

Download ‘A Guide to using the ONS Rural Urban Definition’

Download ‘Reaching the Rural Constituency’

Download ‘Rural Proofing Policy & Programme Development’

The CRC and Respublica have worked together to develop the briefing paper released today. ‘The Rural Big Society‘, based on engagement with a broad cross section of rural interest groups, looks at the value of the Big Society approach to rural communities. It makes a series of recommendations for action, including that:

• The Church of England, whose assets of property and land sit at the heart of many rural communities, should work with government to see how these assets can better be used to support the rural Big Society
• Local parish and town councils should capture revenue from the New Homes Bonus
• Government should champion the role and potential of the Village Agents approach to support, advice and social capital-building, already successfully used in Gloucestershire
• Proposed local GP consortia should make annual reports to the villages and towns they serve, perhaps via the local parish or town council.

Crispin Moor on behalf of the Commission for Rural Communities said “We think the Big Society approach should not just work for deprived communities. It should work for all communities wherever they are. And our villages and market towns are amongst the best placed areas to take the Big Society approach to the next level”.

Download ‘The Rural Big Society’

‘Overview – providing rural transport’ gives an overview of the work and a brief introduction to rural transport planning during challenging economic times.

‘Executive summaries of the transport think pieces’ provides an Executive Summary of the reports published, together with a short summary of 5 thinkpieces already produced by CRC.

• Thinkpiece 1 – Thinking about Rural Transport: Implications of an International Review of Rural Transport undertaken for the CRC

• Thinkpiece 2 – How will rural people be travelling in 2030? – Scenarios and implications for transport policy

• Thinkpiece 3 – Rejuvenating Public Transport in Rural Areas: Understanding Rural Travel Behaviour to Boost Demand

• Thinkpiece 4 – Rejuvenating public transport in rural areas: the scope for influencing travel behaviour

• Thinkpiece 5 – The potential for demand responsive transport to play an increasing role in revitalising rural public transport

• Thinkpiece 6 – The Local Transport Act – Effectiveness in Rural Areas

We hope this note will be a useful tool to communities in making the argument for high quality broadband access regardless of their location.

Download ‘Rural broadband – why does it matter?’

Examples of community projects to illustrate the Big Society approach in rural areas.

Here are is a selection of case studies which illustrate that the Big Society is alive and well in rural areas. These successful projects are just a few of the examples of rural communities demonstrating determination and innovation.

• Yarpole Community Shop
  Yarpole Community shop is a community shop with a difference. After all, where else can you get a blessing with your beans! This project represents a journey from Portacabin to Nave and shows what can be done when a community comes together and thinks creatively about the assets and buildings that are available for use, in this case the local church.

• Tablehurst and Plaw Hatch Community Farm
  This is a good example of how an agricultural enterprise can become a community enterprise. In this community the development of two farms as community run businesses, helps to maintain a link to the land and create local employment opportunities. It shows that a community approach to local enterprise can be applied to almost anything.

• Settle Hydro
  This is a good example of a community energy project that started with four people, lots of drive and determination, and not much else! However, through a persistent approach, private sector and other investment flowed in and now the project is supported community wide.