News
(Rural Coalition)
Since the beginning of 2009, ACRE has worked with a coalition of relevant national organisations to develop a common vision for Rural England, based around the recommendations in Matthew Taylor MP’s 2008 report to government. The members of the coalition include the Local Government Association, Town & Country Planning Association, Commission for Rural Communities and the Campaign to Protect Rural England. The coalition’s prospectus ‘The future is rural too’ argues that “for 50 years or more, policy has undervalued rural England and failed to meet the needs of rural communities – and therefore of the nation. In hindsight, the result is starkly apparent. Rural communities have slowly but relentlessly become less and less sustainable and less and less self-sufficient.” Coalition chair Matthew Taylor MP said: “The coalition has come together in the belief that a more sustainable future for all rural communities is both essential and achievable. It demands a fundamental change of approach at both national and local level.”
The rural coalition argues that the future of rural England can only be secured if local rural communities take on the challenge of securing a more sustainable future for themselves and national policies, particularly on planning, provide the appropriate context for this to happen.
Other major national bodies are expected to join the coalition shortly.
