Supporting Rural Services

Rural businesses and community services have suffered reductions in recent years. Village shops, post offices, doctor’s surgeries, banks, pubs and petrol stations have closed leaving established communities feeling a loss of identity.

The Rural Shops Alliance recently commented that ‘people move into villages with shops and move out when they close’ With fewer and fewer services available, members of communities can become isolated if they are unable to travel easily to the nearest point of service.

The Rural Community council cannot prevent all of these closures but through day to day contact with communities, we can help to support those who wish to combat the effect of the loss of services.

Support workers can help communities to look at alternative ways of retaining and delivering services, i.e. developing a community shop owned and run by members of the community, or having service provider’s work together to provide multi functional building – i.e. using part of the village hall for a shop or post office or doctor’s surgery.

Through our contact with Parish and Town councils, voluntary and community organisations, we can help identify the needs and issues within the locality as well as assist them to find solutions, identifying sources of financial and practical help to enable them to turn their ideas into reality.

RCC staff work to assist and support with community needs assessments, Parish Plans and other consultative processes.
This enables all members of the community to have their say in the physical, environmental and social development of the area in which they live.

Community Development Workers also identify and address issues of social exclusion; supporting disadvantaged sections of the community to resolve the challenges that they face.

The RCC also provides expertise and advice as it works with many partner organisations, both statutory and voluntary, including AONB, Primary Care Trust, Isle of Wight Council, Housing Associations and Isle of Wight Economic Partnership to develop strategies and services for communities on the Island.