CommunitiesBritain’s countryside is characterised by its strong rural communities, and the Countryside Alliance is campaigning hard to ensure their future. Any number of issues threaten their survival, and we lobby to ensure that any legislation passed is countryside-friendly. In this section you can read about various topical issues of interest to rural communities from Policing to broadband, 4G, planning and affordable housing. |
Communities: Community involvement is key in affordable housing debateThursday, 6 September 2012 The Countryside Alliance has welcomed today’s government announcement of £300m new funding to build up to 15,000 affordable homes and bring 5,000 empty ones back into use. The Alliance has long called for the building of more affordable housing so that local people and key workers can afford to live in rural areas. Today’s announcement will not only boost the economy, it will benefit many rural communities where house prices are simply out of reach for many. Read more Countryside Alliance welcomes Paterson Defra appointmentTuesday, 4 September 2012 The Countryside Alliance has welcomed the appointment of Owen Paterson, MP for North Shropshire, to the role of Secretary of State for Defra. Countryside Alliance Executive Chairman Barney White-Spunner commented on the appointment: “This is a great appointment for the countryside. Owen Paterson has consistently shown as a rural MP and Shadow Minister for Fisheries and Food a real understanding of the issues facing the countryside, farming and rural people. He has actively campaigned to support and protect the Post Office network alongside our own Chairman, Kate Hoey MP. As well as this, Mr Paterson is a staunch supporter of all fieldsports and a keen rider. He was very active in the defence of hunting with hounds during the hunting debate. Read more 4G rollout "needs to be competitive"Tuesday, 21 August 2012 Today Ofcom has announced that Everything Everywhere (Orange and T Mobile) can start using part of their mobile network to deliver 4G services from September. 4G will revolutionise how we access the internet and if we can ensure rural areas area well catered for, it will give rural broadband users a real alternative to fixed line broadband. We have long campaigned for 4G roll out Read more Defra rights of way consultationMonday, 23 July 2012 The Government is currently consulting on a variety of changes to the processes for recording, diverting and extinguishing public rights of way. The consultation covers England only. The consultation follows the 2010 report by the Natural England Stakeholder Working Group on unrecorded rights of way, entitled: ‘Stepping Forward’, which should be read in conjunction with the Government's proposals. Read more Reuse of existing buildings - a consultationFriday, 20 July 2012 At the beginning of the month the Government launched a consultation on making it easier to turn existing buildings into a building for a different use. The consultation has a section on the re-use of existing and redundant agricultural buildings. We have seen many examples of diversification of existing agricultural buildings for a new use during the Countryside Alliance Awards. Read more Google & the Countryside Alliance team up for rural businessThursday, 12 July 2012 The Countryside Alliance has teamed up with internet search engine giants Google to promote rural businesses and help them get online. The project has identified a top twenty list of Rural Digital Trailblazers. The Trailblazers list aims to highlight that entrepreneurs needn't be based in an industrial centre or a traditional urban hub to start or grow a business; an enterprise that uses the Internet can be located anywhere. The Trailblazers project is being run Google and the Countryside Alliance to promote and support rural businesses. Read more Devon village is Rural Digital TrailblazerWednesday, 11 July 2012 Braunton has been crowned Britain's number one Rural Digital Trailblazer by Google, the village whose business has grown the most due to Internet use. Not only is the village one of the UK's surfing capitals, local businesses are also riding the wave of online success - beating villages across the country to the number one spot. Through its online advertising service, Google has assessed the strength of online commercial activity in rural areas with populations of 13 000 and less in the UK. Read more Alliance Welcomes Fuel Duty FreezeTuesday, 26 June 2012 The Countryside Alliance today praised the Chancellor George Osborne's decision to reverse the planned rise in fuel duty and freeze any rise until the end of the year.  Coastal access - three new stretches to be implemented - have your sayThursday, 21 June 2012 As you will be aware Natural England is implementing coastal access around the English coast. Natural England plans to start on work five ‘new’ adjoining stretches of coast during 2012/13 and is keen to receive contact from people who may have a legal interest in the land which may be affected by our work. Clearly this will be of particular importance to those owning coastal land or having interests such as sporting rights. Read more Chancellor urged to act on Heritage Tax - sign the epetitionThursday, 14 June 2012 You might recall a few weeks ago we wrote to you about the decision to levy VAT on alterations to listed buildings, as announced in the Budget. Since then there have been the now famous "U-turns" on many other tax alterations mentioned in the budget - pasty taxes, caravan taxes and charity taxes to name a few. However the ill-advised Heritage Tax is still set to be implemented. Read more |
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