Rural Economies
Economic growth is widely acknowledged as essential for national wealth and prosperity, and is a priority for political parties. Rural economies, employing millions and home to a higher proportion of small businesses, have potential for growth if barriers are removed.
03 Dec 2018
Church calls for joined-up rural strategy
A Rural Strategy was agreed at the recent AGM of the Rural Services Network. This document calls upon the Government to take the lead to produce a comprehensive, long...
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03 Dec 2018
Fly-tipping costs mounting
Telford in Shropshire has been found to be England’s biggest fly-tipping hotspots with an average eight incidents per day, according to the Shropshire Star. Last year, £320,000 was spent on...
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20 Nov 2018
Economic Factsheets 2018
To inform and contextualise a local authority area’s economic situation, factsheets have been produced for our member authorities providing a wide range of facts, figures and associated graphs. The factsheets...
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19 Nov 2018
Calls for action over bank closures
The Banking Standards Board (BSB) has spoken out to say that small businesses suffer the most from the closure of bank branches and that British banks need to work together...
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19 Nov 2018
The future of money project
The Bank of England have recently launched a project which is designed to engage the public in a major consultation on the future of money. Called Future Forum, they are...
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19 Nov 2018
Internet speeds bad for rural businesses
Small companies face losing money due to poor broadband connections after research shows more than a quarter of employees find slow internet the most frustrating part of their job. A...
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19 Nov 2018
9 million Brits put off rural move
58 per cent of UK adults have said they would not move to the countryside because of poor broadband, according to a new uSwitch report. The website MobileNews explores the...
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19 Nov 2018
Two-thirds of UK bank branches lost
New analysis from Which? suggests that nearly two thirds of the UK’s bank branches have closed over the past 30 years, the Mirror reports. Parliamentary records show that in 1988...
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12 Nov 2018
High street crisis intensifies
An average of 14 high street shops are closing every day, with only 1.569 new shops opening in the period between January and June 2018, an historic low. According to...
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12 Nov 2018
Second homes ‘tax loophole’ review
The Government has launched a review of a tax loophole under which the owners of second homes register their properties as businesses in order to gain small business rate relief....
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