Church link supports rural communities

THE rural communities of Essex deserve a thriving and sustainable future. And the Rural Community Council of Essex (RCCE) is there to provide them with the skills, resources and expertise necessary to achieve one. RCCE is chaired by Revd Canon John Brown who is the Bishop of Chelmsford's rural officer.

RCCE helps people in rural communities come together to identify their own needs and priorities, providing them with advice and support in developing practical solutions to key local issues. It also provides a voice for rural communities, representing their interests to government at local and national level.

RCCE's current projects include:

● Post offices
The Government's review of its rural subsidy, worth £150m a year, has triggered a renewed threat to rural sub-post offices. More than 60 communities have lost their only sub-post office since 1999. Unless some direct financial support is sustained, it seems inevitable that more rural post offices will have to close. This will disadvantage elderly people and families without regular access to a car. It will also spell the end for many village shops that rely on post office income to stay viable. The RCCE is helping to identify solutions that safeguard the social role of post offices but also give them flexibility to provide the services their customers need. Rural churches could play a part.

● Affordable housing
RCCE is addressing the ever increasing difficulty that people living in rural communities experience when trying to afford housing locally. RCCE's rural housing enabler helps parish councils assess local needs, and develop suitable schemes in partnership with landowners, registered social landlords and local authorities. One practical solution is shared ownership where a housing association retains a part-share of the property and the resident buys the other part.

● Parish plans
RCCE employs a network of field officers who work with villages and market towns to facilitate the preparation of community-led plans such as parish plans and village design statements. These plans stimulate practical action on local problems, and can also exert influence on the policies of statutory authorities. RCCE is working with local authorities to link community-led plans into the mainstream planning process.

● Transport
The RCCE's Linking Communities project facilitates new initiatives that improve rural people's access to employment, education,
health and leisure facilities, with particular emphasis on developing the role of community transport.

● Funding
RCCE helps local communities to access funds from the Big Lottery's Awards for All, Reaching Communities and Community Buildings fund programmes, which benefit socially or materially disadvantaged communities, and its own Community Planning fund. The latter supports all types of community planning and consultation projects including parish plans, village design statements, housing needs surveys and feasibility studies - for example, for village halls.

● Village Halls
RCCE's advice service for village halls and community buildings provide more than 200 individual halls, all run by volunteers, with support on issues such as licensing, charity law, VAT, health and safety and redevelopment projects.

● Competitions
RCCE hosts the Calor Essex village of the year competition with a "best kept churchyard" component. Application forms were sent to parish clerks in February. RCCE also hosts a parish magazine competition. Chelmsford diocese is planning to partner RCCE for the 2007 magazine awards.

● Facilities
RCCE's new offices in Feering provide attractive facilities for in-house events and they are also available to outside organisations for hire. Canon Brown said: "our work is all about empowering local communities to address issues such as transport, local services and affordable housing which are crucial to their future. It is a pleasure to maintain the close working relationship between RCCE and the Diocese of Chelmsford. Parish councils and the parochial church councils have many interests in common."

For further information, contact the Rural Community Council of Essex, tel 0844 4773938, email rcce@essexrcc.org.uk, or visit www.essexrcc.org.uk

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