Y&H Rural Framework and Current Issues

Yorkshire and The Humber Rural Framework

The work of the Rural Affairs Forum is underpinned by a strategic framework - The Yorkshire and The Humber Rural Framework including Evidence Base and Agenda for Action. The first Rural Framework was produced in 2006. It contained ten priorities for rural areas - and identified how these can most effectively be delivered and benefit rural communities.

This Framework was reviewed in 2009 to reflect changing government policy and the new challenges facing rural areas - and importantly to demonstrate the opportunities and benefits which rural areas and the countryside can bring to wider regeneration agendas. Maximising the Rural Potential in Yorkshire and The Humber was produced in 2009.

The Rural Framework 2006 sought to achieve a vibrant and sustainable future for rural Yorkshire and the Humber. It explained that this should mean that rural Yorkshire and The Humber, and the communities within it, remains a place where all those who live, work, play and visit can thrive while maintaining and enhancing the natural environment. This remains the vision and rural stakeholders believe the key actions and interventions required to support the delivery of this vision comprise:

• Developing a range of employment opportunities which provide earning power within the locality comparable to that obtained through commuting further afield.

• Meeting the acute need for affordable housing in many communities and improving the availability, range and diversity of housing stock in rural areas.

• Conserving natural resources and linking environmental and cultural assets, e.g. landscapes and biodiversity, to economic opportunity, food security and climate change adaptation in ways that protect and enhance these assets,

• Enhancing access to services and facilities in a way that meets the needs of the consumer and reduces reliance on personal transport wherever possible.

The need for ongoing monitoring and review of the Rural Framework is important - particularly at this time as new agendas and programmes are emerging from the Coalition Government. Activity around the development of Local Enterprise Partnerships, the Localism Bill and the budget deficit will have major implications for the wellbeing of rural communities and the sustainability of the countryside.

The Rural Affairs Forum’s Sub-Regional Rural Partnerships Sub-Group is currently looking at a number of issues which reflect the key actions outlined above. These are -

• The Rural Economy

• Rural Transport

• Rural Broadband

• Affordable Rural Housing

• Community Development / Access to Services

• The Environment.

These brief scoping papers will look at key issues around need, examples of best practice to tackle the problems and the basic requirements needed to ensure continuation and dissemination of best practice. As well as providing information for a refresh of the Maximising the Rural Potential in Yorkshire and The Humber document, these papers will provide useful evidence for Government Ministers of activity under way to address rural issues and promote vibrant rural communities. (12/03/11)

We have updated the Terms of Reference for the new Y&H RAF structure incorporating in one document most of the changes.
The new YF funding requires us to have an Accountable Body to do financial things and monitor their funding input is being properly delivered. FERA at Sand Hutton have agreed to and been appointed as our Accountable Body. Their first actions for us were to manage and implement the appointment of our new secretariat.

Hopefully we should then be able to produce a new leaflet and revamp bits of this site to take all this change forward. The first job for the new Executive Manager methinks.
Terms of Reference

Maximising the Rural Potential in Yorkshire &The Humber

The Yorkshire and The Humber Rural Framework
Following publication of the Government’s Rural Strategy 2004, Defra asked each English Region to develop the arrangements to prioritise and co-ordinate activity, funding and delivery to rural communities. This has led to the production of the Yorkshire and The Humber Rural Framework which sets out the priorities for action to ensure these are targeted where needed at local level across the region, thus securing sustainable development outcomes.

Yorkshire and the Humber Rural Framework
Y&H Rural Framework Supporting Evidence
Y&H Rural Framework Agenda for Action

The 10 Rural Priorities established in the Framework
These priorities will be key in guiding the work of the RAF, including the Steering Group and future task groups.

1. Rural business development – encourage enterprise and innovation within new and
    established rural businesses, and provide a co-ordinated support infrastructure that helps them adapt to change.

2. Employment, education and skills training – develop and encourage participation in
    quality learning opportunities, and support rural businesses in workforce development.

3. Market towns – support market towns as hubs for the rural economy and as service
    centres, providing locally based employment opportunities.

4. Sustainable tourism – develop, manage and promote rural Yorkshire and The Humber as a high-quality ‘sustainable tourism’ destination.

5. Access to services – ensure that rural communities are characterised by high levels of inclusion and equitable access to quality services that recognise demographic trends.

6. Rural transport – understand and addresses transport needs in rural areas through
    private, public and voluntary sector provision, to promote rural regeneration and tackle
    social exclusion.

7. Rural housing – understand and address housing needs in rural areas, recognising and tackling issues of fuel poverty.

8. Rural communities – promote social cohesion, and encourage and support the
    engagement of rural communities and the active roles that they can play.

9. The natural environment – conserve and enhance the region’s rural bio diversity,
    Its distinctiveness, and the quality of its natural and built environment

10. Promote a ‘functional landscape’ – where development draws on and sustains the
     natural, cultural and built heritage of the region’s rural areas.