 |
| Country Living |
|
| In the past |
 Rural communities consisted of people who worked and lived locally. These locally based populations supported:
- Shops and pubs – places to buy goods and socialise.
- Post Offices for communication and money transactions.
- Schools providing a local education.
- Transport links to nearby towns and cities by bus or train.
- Affordable accommodation for young people to buy or rent when they left home.
- Heath care clinics and facilities.
- Professional services of all types, from lawyers to car mechanics.
|
|
| Today |
Rural communities find themselves dealing with the effects of complex social and economic change resulting from:
- Increased car mobility which reduces demand for public transport.
- Increased car ownership which allows more people to live in rural areas but work and shop elsewhere.
- Young people excluded from the housing market by increasing demand for country homes.
- Increased use of supermarkets causing village shops to close.
- Essential local services that are increasingly hard to access from rural areas such as schools, health, police and banking.
|
|
| In a sustainable future |
Rural communities must take account of:
- Finding cost-efficient means of delivering services to rural areas.
- Providing jobs and affordable accommodation to young people who wish to make their living in the countryside.
- Socially excluded groups hidden within statistically prosperous areas.
- The need for solutions to be community-owned and driven as well as targeted and effective.
|
|
|
|
