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Rural issues

The IWRCC is one of a number of RCCs across the country all of which are affiliated to the national body, Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE).
Through ACRE and the combined efforts of all the RCCs, efforts are made to influence local and national policies that affect the quality of life in rural communities.
Key rural issues identified across the RCCs include:

• Transport and Access to Services
• Housing and Planning
• Community Led Planning
• Community owned assets
• Broadband
• Fuel poverty and energy generation

The IWRCC seeks to work with a range of partners to help deliver local solutions across these issues and through ACRE to influence national policy development.
In some instances this is through directly delivering services which address these issues.
The Optio voluntary car service we co-ordinate is helping to address transport barriers for elderly and less mobile residents through its membership based support service.
The IWRCC has recently taken on an umbrella role for Bembridge and Brighstone libraries and enabled local volunteer committees to continue to maintain the service when they were at risk of closure.
Our trading arm Island Community Ventures taken ownership of and refurbished and re-opened the village shop in Godshill and taken on the responsibility for running the local post office.
It is also addressing fuel poverty issues by seeking to directly reduce the heating costs of those rural homeowners dependant upon heating oil deliveries through a bulk buy heating oil scheme which already has over 75 members.
On other occasions we are working with partners, whether public sector, private or voluntary to try to find solutions to these shared concerns.
The IWRCC is a member of the Leader steering group helping to manage this key funding programme which has been delivered very successfully over the last few years by Natural Enterprise. http://www.naturalenterprise.co.uk/pages/economic/7-item-three
We recently supported the Isle of Wight Association of Local Councils and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England to put on an event around planning and the new neighbourhood planning proposals.
If you're a resident or group with a particular problem in a rural area please contact us and we'll do our best to help.

The IWRCC is supported by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs