As 2022 draws to a close we are taking a moment to reflect on our achievements for our member organisations in 2022

We are the national champion for rural services, ensuring that rural areas have a strong voice and we’ve been putting that ‘rural voice’ to good use this year.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our member organisations for their continued support, and to our Executive Board for their role in running and supporting the Rural Services Network.  Particular thanks goes to Councillor Cecilia Motley, who has been Chair of the RSN for many years, sharing her wisdom and rural policy experience with us, who sadly stood down at our AGM from the role.  We welcome Councillor Roger Phillips from Herefordshire Council who has taken on the role of Chair. 

You can find out more about our Executive Board at this link:
https://www.rsnonline.org.uk/page/our-executive-board

The following is a summary of our achievements in 2022.

Representing our Membership nationally

• We primarily campaign for Fair Funding for rural services, ensuring that Government understands the impact on rural communities of its current policy of unfair funding
• We sit on the Rural Impact Forum – created in lockdown and still meeting monthly with DEFRA to ensure that key issues affecting rural communities are shared with Government departments.
• We’ve submitted evidence to a number of Parliamentary Inquiries and Government Consultations to ensure that the rural perspective to these key issues is shared
• We’ve commissioned research which we have shared with the press and parliamentarians into the Rural Cost of Living Crisis and Rural as a region in the Levelling Up White Paper.
• We’ve supported the All Party Parliamentary Group on Rural Services with 3 meetings this year discussing Adult Social Care in Rural Areas, Decarbonisation of Off Grid Gas Heating and Fair Funding and the Local Government Finance Settlement.
• We continue our work on the Revitalising Rural Campaign, setting out a number of asks of Government in key policy areas.

Our Services to you

• This year we hosted the National Rural Conference over the course of a week, with almost 650 delegates from across our membership attending to discuss all things rural focusing on Rural Affordable Housing, Rural Economic Regeneration, Rural Health and Care, Rural Net Zero and Rural Transport
• We’ve hosted 9 networking seminars throughout the year with 27 expert speakers featuring and over 630 delegates from over 240 organisations attending the events
• We’ve delivered the Rural Bulletin to over 20,000 contacts each week with a round up of key rural news stories
• We’ve published 12 Funding Digest newsletters highlighting many funding and grant opportunities relevant to rural communities
• We’ve published 4 Rural Beacon publications, direct to Councillors at our Local Authority members sharing with them our work
• We’ve published 12 spotlight publications focusing on the Rural Economy Rural Housing and our Rural Services Partnership members
• We’ve reviewed Government Strategies and White Papers through a ‘rural lens’ to determine the impact for rural areas Click here to see the rural lens reviews.
• We’ve published analysis for some of our members on the Levelling Up Missions enabling them to see how they compare with national figures. Click here for more information

You can read more about our achievements at this link

It’s been a year of change with what has felt like a new Government Cabinet every few weeks at times, but we look forward to 2023 when we can continue to deliver services to our membership, and work on your behalf to campaign for a fair deal for rural services.