Rural Communities: development and organising… state of play in 2014Challenges for Rural Communities Exercise

1. Rural Communities:
development and organising… state
of play in 2014
Challenges for Rural Communities
Exercise
Funded by:
Hosted by:
Wednesday 8 January 2014
Retford Town Hall

2. FROM WHAT YOU HAVE
HEARD TODAY……
• Discuss in your group
– One key rural issue/challenge for you?
– One practical way forward in addressing rural
needs/issues?
– One current/future rural issue/challenge that has
not been addressed today?

3. FEEDBACK GROUP 1
• Issue: rural broadband
• Practical way forward: groups (as a social
enterprise) offering expertise on
neighbourhood planning on non-profit basis –
peer learning and ‘undercutting’ commercial
consultants
• Issue not addressed: how to break down
barriers between agencies and people and
vice versa

4. FEEDBACK GROUP 2
• Issue: growing elderly population in rural
areas – raises issues of access to transport,
services etc
• Practical way forward: push rural issues onto
mainstream planning agency agendas – eg
Local Economic Partnerships
• Issue not addressed:capacity and capabilities
for rural communities to ‘take on’ services

5. FEEDBACK GROUP 3
• Issue: commissioning rural services: issues of
cost, who can deliver and access; are rural
groups excluded from the tendering process?
• Practical way forward: protecting spaces for
rural groups to meet and promotion of mobile
services
• Issue not addressed: sustainability – how to
keep rural communities thriving