28 Sep 2026
The Rural Services Network last week hosted the National Rural Conference, an opportunity to bring together members of the RSN to focus on rural policy and effective solutions for meeting the challenges that rural communities face.
It was an inspiring week, bringing people together from communities across the length and breadth of England. We heard from speakers and stakeholders working at national, regional and local level, each sharing their knowledge, experience and ideas for creating a fairer future for rural communities.
We were delighted to host The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter who shared her experienced representing a rural constituency and the challenges they face within her rural communities.
A huge thank you to every speaker who contributed, to everyone who joined us, and to our conference supporters, National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise, English Rural, BT Group and Retrofit Information, Support and Expertise for helping to make the week such a success.
With sessions exploring a wide range of topics, from affordable rural housing to the rural economy, net zero, transport, rural health and care, connectivity, rural making a difference and of course rural fair funding, discussions were wide ranging and detailed.
We can confirm that the conference involved almost 600 delegates across our membership, with over ¾ of our local authorities in membership attending at least one session!
We welcomed 37 expert speakers to the sessions throughout the week, and 75% of sessions had Government representatives attending to listen into the debate.
Our Chief Executive, Kerry Booth shared her thoughts on the overarching message of the conference:
For me the theme running through so many of the National Rural Conference sessions was both simple and urgent. Effective rural policy requires an understanding of rural realities rather than urban assumptions about what rural service providers and rural communities face.
The conference reinforced that rural England is not a niche interest or a single policy portfolio. It is home to millions of people, hundreds of thousands of businesses and a substantial share of the nation’s economic potential. Policies that overlook rural conditions do not simply disadvantage rural communities; they weaken national delivery.
If Government wants good growth in every postcode, rural postcodes need to be part of the plan.
Post event information has been sent out to delegates that booked onto sessions at the conference.
The National Rural Conference creates space in the policy calendar to focus on rural challenges, and the tailored solutions needed to meet those challenges. The Rural Services Network aims to enable this debate and represent rural voices at a national level.
