Connecting Communities in Berkshire is urging candidates standing in the general election across Berkshire not to forget the needs and circumstances of people living and working in the countryside.

The charity, along with other members of the ACRE Network, claims that for too long, the government has overlooked the challenges that rural residents face, including diminishing public services, inadequate infrastructure, and housing which has become increasingly unaffordable resulting in hidden poverty and ageing communities.

Tim Parry, CEO of Connecting Communities in Berkshire said, “Approximately 100,000 people in Berkshire live in a rural community. But we get the impression that all too often the needs of people who live and work in the countryside in Berkshire and beyond are overlooked.

“Because of this we’re joining with our national body Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and other rural charities across England to say more needs to be done to close this gap, from creating a new statutory advisory body requiring government departments to appraise the impact of policies on rural dwellers, to funding more community-led housing, and supporting villages to develop plans so they can become more resilient to climate change.”

ACRE, which represents charities such as Connecting Communities in Berkshire has set out a suite of policy recommendations for the next government which it hopes will trigger a debate about what it means and takes to represent rural communities in 2024.

Tim added, “Too many services are delivered in areas where population is at its most dense. People living in the more sparsely populated areas of Berkshire, particularly those without their own transport, face added costs in both time and money to access basic services that people in urban areas take for granted. Older people and the young in particular will continue to face added isolation and social deprivation unless more service providers recognise the benefits of outreach service delivery models: taking services out into the community and utilising the network of village halls for example, to access customers and service users where they live. We hope to work with whoever is elected to represent rural communities across Berkshire to consider how these delivery models could increase the quality of life of Berkshire’s rural population.”