Making the rural voice heard
While ORCC is busy ‘on the front desk’, supporting rural communities across our whole range of activities, we are also busy behind the scenes. As the county’s leading rural charity, we are able to work with policy makers and service providers to speak up for the needs of rural communities and represent their interests.
We do this in various different committees and partnerships at District, County, regional and national level (see ‘Partnership working’). There are always competing priorities and we cannot always succeed in getting rural needs acknowledged as much as we would like, but it is important that we keep reminding our decision-makers that Oxfordshire is the most rural county in the south east and as such, has particular needs.
The same problems come up time and again – availability of services, affordable housing, and rural transport. We continue to lobby for improvements to all of these, using the experience we have in working with rural communities to provide evidence and examples (often in the form of ‘case studies’) that help support our case.
Much existing data makes it very hard to demonstrate rural need, since sporadic, geographically thinly spread figures don’t show up in data designed to show county averages. But a pioneering new approach commissioned by the South East Rural Community Councils has shown that there is deprivation in our rural areas – it’s just a question of looking at data in a different way. This has already made a real impact in the ‘Joint Strategic Needs Assessment’ for future health and social care in Oxfordshire.
We are working with colleagues across the South East – and in our national network – to raise awareness about this important new way of looking at the world. News will be posted on the website to update you on progress.
We do this in various different committees and partnerships at District, County, regional and national level (see ‘Partnership working’). There are always competing priorities and we cannot always succeed in getting rural needs acknowledged as much as we would like, but it is important that we keep reminding our decision-makers that Oxfordshire is the most rural county in the south east and as such, has particular needs.
The same problems come up time and again – availability of services, affordable housing, and rural transport. We continue to lobby for improvements to all of these, using the experience we have in working with rural communities to provide evidence and examples (often in the form of ‘case studies’) that help support our case.
Much existing data makes it very hard to demonstrate rural need, since sporadic, geographically thinly spread figures don’t show up in data designed to show county averages. But a pioneering new approach commissioned by the South East Rural Community Councils has shown that there is deprivation in our rural areas – it’s just a question of looking at data in a different way. This has already made a real impact in the ‘Joint Strategic Needs Assessment’ for future health and social care in Oxfordshire.
We are working with colleagues across the South East – and in our national network – to raise awareness about this important new way of looking at the world. News will be posted on the website to update you on progress.