Rural Ambition: enabling communities to thrive

Rural Ambition: enabling communities to thrive Our strategy for 2025-30 Action with Communities in Rural England

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ACRE: The voice of rural communities Contents 03 ACRE in numbers 04 Welcome to our strategy A 06 ACRE is dedicated to rural communities ction with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) is the national charity for rural communities. Understanding the landscape: rural realities today We champion thriving, sustainable, inclusive communities that have the services and the resources 07 they need to secure equitable outcomes for everyone. 09 Our ambitions for 2030 and how we will deliver them We work closely with our network of 38 member charities who work with communities in rural areas across England.

14 Our four supporting pillars Together we campaign for change, enable local action, and improve support for people most in need. We engage 20 How we make change happen with government and other national partners to explore the 21 Let’s get started issues affecting rural communities and identify solutions so that no one is disadvantaged by where they live. 22 How we developed our strategy 23 The ACRE network Rural Ambition: enabling communities to thrive Strategy 2025-30 2

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ACRE in numbers In 2024/25 ACRE contributed to over The ACRE Network reaches over Our village halls advice service is available to over 28,000 Ј4.5 million 20 10,000 In 2024/25 ACRE distributed over community groups and organisations and leverages over Ј40 million policy consultations and parliamentary inquiries to ensure the voice of rural communities was heard. community buildings in rural communities across England. of government grants to our network and the rural communities they support. of funding annually. 3 Rural Ambition: enabling communities to thrive • Strategy 2025-30 £

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Welcome to our strategy A CRE is the only national charity speaking up for rural communities as a whole and this gives us a unique perspective. Our vision is for rural communities that are thriving, inclusive and sustainable, with the support they need to ensure equitable outcomes for everyone. We also believe they have a vital part to play in helping to address some of the most significant challenges facing everyone in society, wherever they live, including the need to increase growth to fund high quality services, promote a just and effective transition to net zero and deliver the urgent restoration of the natural world.

commitment to improve the wellbeing of people in rural communities, and especially those in greatest need as a result of where they live. ACRE is the national champion for the network. Since we began work forty years ago, we have brought together our members’ collective experience of the issues facing rural communities to influence public policy development and make the case for equitable rural community development. Our members are embedded in rural communities and through them we are able to maximise impact on the ground.

Our ability to draw on their expertise and reach also means we can quickly see new trends emerging and understand the impact national changes will have on local communities. “We champion thriving, sustainable, inclusive rural communities that have the services and the resources they need to secure equitable outcomes for everyone.” ACRE’s origins can be traced back over a century to the foundation of the first Rural Community Councils. Part of the wider movement for social change which emerged from the First World War, they were established to provide opportunities for returning veterans and their families and address the significant hardship facing many rural communities.

Over time similar organisations were established in every rural county in England and today they form the ACRE Network. Together they share a Our new strategy for 2025-30, Rural Ambition: enabling communities to thrive, builds on the successes of the last five years. We worked with our members throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to support rural communities. We commissioned research, contributed extensively to policy making and helped to ensure new legislation Rural Ambition: enabling communities to thrive Strategy 2025-30 4

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