A Letter to all Rural Parishes in England from our Chief Executive
We know your Parish Council has a vital role to play in enabling the communities you serve and support to not only survive, but to thrive during these increasingly uncertain times. We also know rural services are coming under increasing pressure and we need Rural Parish Councils to get involved in this issue at this time, without a strong collective voice, we risk being left behind.
The Rural Village Services Group (RVSG) is therefore currently being created to help you to deliver improved outcomes for your communities through shared collective pressure, rural knowledge and learning from others in membership.
Membership of the Group is FREE for six months and at a nominal membership fee thereafter. Learn more
Here at the RSN, we hope you all managed to enjoy the long Bank Holiday weekend celebrating the Queens Jubilee. So many rural villages held events, bringing together the community in a way that hasn't been seen for several years while we've had covid restrictions and it was great to see!
This June we will be holding two events for our members and would like to encourage members to book their places:
If you are a member of RSN and/or RSP, RHCA, RMTG we would like to invite you to the RSN Seminar: Rural Affordable Housing which will be held between 11:00-1:00 on Wednesday, 29th June 2022 online via Zoom. Speakers for this event are yet to be confirmed but overall this event will aim to look at the topic of Rural Affordable Housing from a national perspective, share ideas and best practice and engage in networking and discussions. We will also aim to discuss our Revitalising Rural campaign and our specific chapter on Availability of Rural Affordable Housing and related policy asks of the Government.
If you are a member of RSN and/or RSP/RHCA you are welcome to book your place at our Rural Assembly meeting which will be held between 13:00-15.00 online via Zoom on Wednesday, 22nd June 2022. This meeting will focus on the Pragmatix Report “Rural as a region: the hidden challenge for Levelling Up”.
The Benefits Processing analysis within the Performance Benchmarking section on the RSN website has now been updated to Quarter 3 2021/22 data. The speed of processing is a measure of the average time it takes to process a new Housing Benefit claim or a change of circumstance to an existing Housing Benefit claim. It is an important measure since a swift process ensures those in need of this benefit do not suffer undue uncertainty at a stressful time in their lives. It is useful to authorities to understand how efficiently they are processing applications and how their own level of service compares with similar and neighbouring authorities, to provide perspective on the service that they offer. - These analyses can be accessed HERE These analyses provide benchmarking on speed of processing for new claims and change of circumstances. Data comes from Department for Work and Pensions, statistics on the average number of days to process a new Housing Benefit claim or a change of circumstance to an existing Housing Benefit claim.
In Hinterland this time – a lack of key services causing distant treatment, vegan farmers, councils and the cost of living emergency (have a look at Saunder’s dual state hypothesis!), Levelling Up and Health and NHS Food Banks for staff!! All topped off with the chance to relax in a well-being garden in Leeds. Read on...
Looking for funding for your local project or community group? Read the latest edition of the Funding Digest here
Read the latest Government Consultations that may be relevant to rural communities here
Member Insights is the place to discover the statistics that define communities within our membership
