Curbs
on second home ownership that would stop people buying in sought-after rural areas
may soon be imposed by the government. The Matthew Taylor inquiry, commissioned
by Gordon Brown, will recommend local authorities have the power to prevent
outsiders buying property they do not intend to make their main residence. Those
seeking to buy country boltholes that deprive local residents of houses would be
forced to win planning permission to change the house from fully occupied to a
second home and could be refused by the council. The inquiry is also considering
banning outsiders from buying newly built homes in such areas. The move is
likely to reduce the supply of houses in counties such as
A
Housing and Regeneration Bill
amendment could free up the log-jam of land being made available for affordable
housing in rural areas – according to the
The £8.4 billion National Affordable Housing Programme for 2008-11 will provide at least 155,000 new affordable homes in the next three years, almost double the number of affordable homes compared to 2006-08. More than 100,000 of these will be for affordable rent, and more than 50,000 for affordable sale through the Government's HomeBuy initiatives. (Housing Corporation news release. 26/2/08)
Schools
are being shut at the rate of almost one a day, with hundreds axed in rural
areas in the past five years. New government figures show that a total of 1,704 schools have been shut
in
The
Schools Minister wrote to all Local Authorities in February reminding them that
there should be a ‘presumption against closing rural schools’. This presumption was introduced by
government in 1998 and states that an Authority must take into regard: transport
available and the cost of transport to another school; what are the alternatives
to closure and what would be the impact of closure on the community. Where there is a village school,
local people should already be looking at the transport issues and the other
impacts on the community. It is
better to have a case ready now than to wait until there is a real threat to a
small school.
The
Network Change Local Area Plans for
§
In
the first 11 weeks, Post Office Ltd draws up its initial plan, and engages with
Postwatch in “detailed plan development discussions”. It also speaks to
subpostmasters in the area. Both sets of discussions take place in confidence.
Local MPs are notified in the final week of that process;
§
After
that, there is a six-week period of local public consultation, in which details
of the proposals are made publicly available for the first
time;
§
There
then follows three weeks before final decisions are announced (assuming no
proposals are taken to review: there is a four stage review process that
Postwatch can initiate if it feels it necessary);
§
Then
a further four weeks for implementation.
The decision to reduce the size of the network has already been taken; the local consultations are not about whether post offices should close in a particular area, but about whether Post Office Ltd’s proposals identify the right offices for closure. The problem is that the consultation materials do not clearly set this out.
The
Government has changed its initial purely distance-based access criteria. The
revised access criteria for the network are:
•
99% of the population within 3 miles;
•
90% of the population within 1 mile;
•
95% in urban areas within 1 mile;
•
99% in the 15% most deprived urban areas within 1 mile;
•
95% within 3 miles in rural areas; and
• 95% within 6 miles within every postcode district
In
applying the access criteria, Post Office Ltd will be required to take into
account obstacles such as rivers, mountains and valleys, motorways and sea
crossings to islands to avoid undue hardship. Most significantly, the Government
now requires Post Office Ltd “to consider the availability of public transport
and alternative access to key services, local demographics and the impact on
local economies when drawing up area plans”.
A
Committee report on the consultations to date can be seen at:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmberr/292/29202.htm
The
Cathedral and Church Buildings Division has worked closely with Post Office Ltd,
alongside the
Further support is available from the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) which has developed Rural Service Support, an on-line service that provides information and advice to rural communities considering alternative models of delivering post office services. Access the service via: www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk or direct to www.expertsonline.org.uk/rssupport and click on the Post Office ‘tag’.
As a Post Office outreach
scheme nears its first anniversary in a rural church on the
The
Rural Community Buildings Network is now hosting a webpage which allows
different organizations including the Church of England, the
The
Arthur Rank Centre in partnership with the Government Disposal Services Agency
is making high quality, fully-refurbished, ex-government computer
equipment available at very competitive prices to anybody working in, with
or for rural communities. For more information go to:
http://www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/projects/computers_for_rural_people
National Air Traffic Services
which manage
The
Chairman of the Rural Communities Commission said recently that rural
Discussing his new report on Farming Today, 3/3/08, the Government’s Rural Advocate called for University Outposts in remote rural areas to give young rural people more opportunity.
‘Blue
Tongue’ disease
will have a significant impact on the livestock industry, though it is unlikely
to have an impact on the rest of the population in the way that Foot and Mouth
Disease did. We should be prepared to extend pastoral care and concern to the
farming industry during this period. The
H5N1
avian flu
has been found in another wild bird in
British consumers are spending a lower proportion of their income on food and drink than at any time since records began. (Farmers Weekly 1/2/08 p.8) www.localfoodshop.co.uk is an excellent tool to help us support local food shopping. Enter your postcode and get details of local food suppliers. (Farmers Weekly p.25 11/1/08)
British
farming incomes
rose overall last year but farmers' leaders recently warned that this masked a
"dangerously divided" industry. The estimated average £13,300 a year earned by
those working full time in farming was better than in 2000 and 2001, when it
slipped well below £10,000. However, 25 years ago it was more than £26,000 at
today's prices, as it was again in the mid-90s, before the BSE and foot and
mouth crises. Those in some sectors, particularly wheat producers, have recently
enjoyed huge increases in prices as a result of weather-affected harvests
globally and increased demand for animal feed from
The
The
culling of badgers
in areas heavily affected by bovine tuberculosis has been proposed as the basis
of a new strategy to stop the disease spreading across
The
Border & Immigration Agency Accession Monitoring Report notes that nationals from the A8
countries (
Workers applied to work for
employers based all over the UK, with the proportion applying to London falling
from 20% in 2004 to 10% in 2007 whilst the proportion applying elsewhere has
increased and East Anglia and the
Midlands have now overtaken London, each with 14% of the total registered
workers in 2007.
Partnership
Working. .
The
Government set up Local Strategic Partnerships in 2001. They are non-statutory,
multi-agency bodies which aim to bring together at local level the public,
private, community and voluntary sectors, including faith communities, to
address local issues. In rural
areas there is less faith representation as there are fewer people from
non-Christian faiths and therefore no Inter-faith organizations. However, rural LSPs are willing to elect
representatives nominated by Churches Together. “Such partnerships are vitally important
if we are to reflect Christian concerns and rural concerns and it provides an
opportunity to work with organizations and to argue for sensitive solutions to
rural communities and their needs”. (
Youth
Workers are a lifeline Rural
Theft of Metal For the latest information and guidance on the theft of metal including lead theft from church roofs: http://www.churchcare.co.uk/building.php?CDOD
Policing
the Church A
Vicar and Church Council in Devon have offered the use of a church room free of
charge to the