Rural Economy Spotlight - December 2025

A quarterly bulletin facilitated by your membership of the Rural Services Network highlighting a selection of current rural economic development news, issues and opportunities

Budget 2025 – the rural impact

The Rural Services Network has put together an initial overview of the Government’s 2025 Budget, highlighting the headline measures and the early implications for rural areas across energy, transport, housing, public services, skills and local government funding.

At this stage, many Budget announcements remain broad and high-level, and further guidance will be needed to understand how they will operate in practice. Our overview therefore focuses on the immediate issues that stand out for rural communities, with fuller analysis to follow once more detail is released.

You can take a look at our briefing at this link.

New Index of Multiple Deprivation includes rural report

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in England. It is the most widely used of the Indices of Deprivation by government.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published a new IMD on 30 October – along with a suite of associated English Indices of Deprivation. IMD 2025 is the seventh version of the Index and replaces all previous versions.

For the first time, a 111-page long supplementary ‘Rural Report’ has also been published. Produced in collaboration with Defra, this considers “how deprivation can manifest in a specifically rural context, how it may be quantified or measured and how this may be improved in future.”

You can read the rural report here.

RSN has undertaken a review of the new IMD which you can find at this link.

RSN 2026 seminar programme – booking open

RSN is delighted to launch the RSN Member Exclusive Seminar Programme for 2026, bringing together industry experts, rural practitioners, and sector leaders to explore the major issues shaping rural communities across England.

Our seminars are a core RSN member benefit, highly interactive, and designed to support learning, collaboration, and real-world problem-solving.  Last year we welcomed 450 delegates from across our membership at our seminar events!

The 2026 programme covers a wide range of rural priorities such as; Net Zero, Connectivity, Communities, Economy, Transport, Affordable Housing, Planning, and Health & Care. Sessions are scheduled throughout the year and you can view the full timetable book directly here.

Devolution opportunities to deliver rural affordable homes

New research from the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) shows how England’s devolution programme could unlock the delivery of affordable homes in rural communities, supporting local need and economic growth – but only if rural priorities are built into local strategies and backed by national safeguards.

Published by The Rural Housing Network (RHN), this major new report, ‘English Devolution and Rural Affordable Housing: Opportunities and Risks’ finds that devolution offers powerful new tools – including Spatial Development Strategies and Strategic Place Partnerships – that could be used to meet rural housing needs. But without deliberate action, rural communities risk being overlooked.

You can read more at this link.

Cornwall Council’s Good Growth Programme picks up 2025 iED Most Innovative Project of the Year award

Embedding Good Growth Principles into programme design and UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) delivery in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, managed by Cornwall Council, has been named the Most Innovative Project of the Year at the Institute of Economic Development (iED) Annual Awards 2025.

The awards, which were held in Manchester on 25th November celebrate achievers in the public and private sector through a series of individual, team and organisational categories.

The Most Innovative Project of the Year award recognises innovative economic development projects which have pushed the boundaries beyond traditional approaches and delivered additional beneficial outcomes as a result of the innovation.

The £186 million Good Growth Programme is aimed at driving local economic growth, creating jobs and strengthening communities across Cornwall and Scilly. It is managed by Cornwall Council and funded by the government’s UKSPF. But unlike traditional economic growth activity, projects funded through the Good Growth Programme are assessed not just on economic impact but on their contribution to a set of principles, which embed values of fair pay, inclusion, and environmental sustainability.

You can read more here.

Pride in Place Prospectus published

The Pride in Place Programme is described as the government’s “flagship communities programme which empowers local people to shape the future of their neighbourhood.”

Supported by up to £5 billion in funding over 10 years, this programme aims to create a long-term strategy to fix the foundations in hundreds of communities across the country.

Neighbourhood Boards will co-create a Pride in Place Plan, together with their community, setting out how up to £20 million will be spent over the course of a decade. 75 neighbourhoods have been identified for phase 1 and a further 169 in phase 2.

The prospectus, published on 3 December, is available at this link.

Government sets out next steps for new Local Plan system

Housing and Planning Minister, Matthew Pennycook has provided an update on the government’s reforms to the local plan-making system in England, confirming key legislative, funding and timetable measures intended to accelerate the delivery of up-to-date local plans across all areas.

In a written statement to Parliament, the Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to achieving universal coverage of adopted local plans, describing the current level of plan coverage as “problematic” and a barrier to delivering the 1.5 million homes pledged in this Parliament. He emphasised that local plans must remain the foundation of the planning system, giving communities a meaningful role in shaping development and helping prevent speculative applications in the absence of clear policy. You can read more details at this link.

Rural England statistical digest available

The Statistical Digest of Rural England is a collection of statistics on a range of social and economic topics and provides broad comparisons between Rural and Urban areas by settlement type.

Prepared by DEFRA, the Digest is structured into thematic reports and incorporates the previously separate publication the Rural Economic Bulletin.

The Digest consists of the following thematic reports:

• Population
• Housing
• Health and Wellbeing
• Communities and Households
• Connectivity and Accessibility
• Education, Qualifications and Training
• Rural Economic Bulletin
• Energy

You can access all the contents at the following link: About the Digest and Rural Definitions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The most recent rural economic statistics can be found at this link.

Government consults on proposed visitor levy in England

The government is giving Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England the power to create local overnight visitor levies. They are seeking views on the design of the new power including:

• whether Foundation Strategic Authorities should also have the power to create overnight visitor levies
• how any revenues collected should be used
• the types of accommodation that will and will not be included
• how levy rates should be calculated and the powers Strategic Authorities have to change them
• what Strategic Authorities need to do to introduce a levy and to change it?
• liability for the levy and how this will be assessed
• the administrative framework for overnight visitor levies, including options to minimise regulatory requirements
• equalities impacts?

This consultation closes on 18 February 2026 and full details are available here.

Local Net Zero Hubs support available to councils and communities

The Local Net Zero Hubs programme helps local authorities and communities in England to play a leading role in decarbonisation, supporting local authorities to develop net zero projects and attract commercial investment.

Find out more about the Local Net Zero Hub in your area follow the relevant link below:

• North East and Yorkshire Local Net Zero Hub
• North West Local Net Zero Hub
• Midlands Local Net Zero Hub
• South West Local Net Zero Hub
• South East Local Net Zero Hub

Further information on the support available can be found at this link.

Local business organisations – keep calm and sign up!

RSN exists to enable the issues facing the rural areas of England to be identified, information and good practice to be shared and government to be challenged to address the needs and build on the opportunities which abound in rural areas.  We have a number of Chambers of Trade, Commerce and Local Business Networks who are members of RSN and currently receive our bulletins.  If there is a business organisation in your area who you think would find our bulletins useful, please pass this bulletin onto them and ask them to contact Andy Dean with their contact details so we can ensure they are included in future distributions.

Future editions of the Rural Economy Spotlight

The next edition of this bulletin will be distributed in March 2026.  If you have any suggestions as to future content or would like to submit a short article for inclusion, please contact Andy Dean.