THE Rural Services Network manifesto calling for a fairer deal for rural England has been featured in the Sunday Times.

The manifesto was featured in the newspaper as part of a page-long article headlined 'Save our Countryside'.

"The shires have been neglected for too long," wrote journalist Richard Girling. "It's time we started treating them as a national asset."

Implementing 11 recommendations contained in the RSN manifesto will help stop the "withering of rural life," suggests the newspaper.

Featured recommendations include the call for a fairer distribution of government grants between urban and rural local authorities.

"We have the manifesto. Now let us seem some action," the article concludes.

The RSN manfesto can be downloaded here. The full Sunday Times article, which appeared on 21 December 2014, can be downloaded here.