Strengthening The Role of Rural Councillors - Emerging Ideas

We completed our evidence gathering in July and we're currently working with the Countryside and Community Research Institute to analyse the many hundreds of your views and written submissions. 

Read some of the emerging ideas

We want to ask you four specific questions to help focus and refine our thinking:

• Are the emerging ideas relevant to solving the problems described by our inquiry participants?

• Are the emerging ideas necessary?

• Can the emerging ideas be improved. If so how? E.g. - Do they go far enough or do they fall short of what is required?

• Are the emerging ideas collectively sufficient? E.g. - If all were to be implemented within 2 or 3 years would the problem be largely ‘solved’?

Send us your comments by e-mail to participationinquiry@ruralcommunities.gov.uk. Please let us know if you're happy for us to use your views and if you'd like to be informed when our final report is published.

We'll also be presenting our draft findings at the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative party conferences, and at the NALC, LGA and Action for Market Towns conferences. 

At the beginning of October our Inquiry panel will be finalising their report.  They'll combine the evidence we have gathered, the feedback we received through our short programme of trailing and testing, and your views.  Our final report will be available in the new year.