"Play a leading and influential role nationally within the rural housing sector"
Working with others to play a role in representing the interests of affordable rural housing providers remains essential.
For agreed Business Strategy to be achieved, English Rural will need a positive operating environment and to play a role in influencing this; as well as a wide range of other factors that impact on successful outcomes.
Recognising the limitations that exist due to scale and resource, the approach that has been agreed is to capitalise on relationships and networks to create impactful partnerships - doing this in a way that allows others to secure value from working with English Rural also.
Good examples of this approach are the continued active role played in the Rural Housing Alliance and more recently the Rural Housing Network via Board Member, Monica Burns who was appointed Co-Chair during 2021. The Chief Executive has also been involved with a working group convened by DEFRA.
Learning from previous experiences there has been a renewed focus on gathering useful evidence about the circumstances surrounding affordable rural housing. English Rural is currently involved in three separate research projects due to be completed within 2022/23.
These include a rural homelessness project being jointly undertaken by Kent and Southampton Universities, a wider land and planning policy project being undertaken by University College London and a capacity project yet to be commissioned.
All three projects will secure important evidence, case studies and recommendations to inform the rural housing debate.
Our Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, meeting guests and residents at the official opening of affordable rural homes in Dunsfold, Surrey
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Refresh of communication strategy with even greater digital focus
Royal engagements to spotlight the value of what we do
Further impactful research embarked on
Proactively working to add value from our experiences to a range of wider rural and affordable housing sector groups
A Parish Assembly event in Kent. providing an opportunity for the local community to discuss the project and provide feedback.
>> Frequent changes at ministerial, government official and wider sector level result in a continuous loss of knowledge and experience. Although time-consuming, a cycle of sharing our experiences with those who have influence over how we are able to deliver on ambitions remains vital
>> The scale of our capacity and resource continues to limit how effective our voice can be. Working proactively and openly with others, especially established rural and affordable housing interest groups, will help us have the biggest impact. Similarly, the communications strategy continues to focus on promoting our messages to audiences digitally.
