The role of community-led housing in town centre regeneration in Northumberland
Community-led housing and regeneration are reshaping rural town centres—revitalising high streets, repurposing vacant buildings, and creating lasting local assets. This resource showcases case studies from Northumberland, where development trusts in places like Amble, Wooler, Haltwhistle, and Prudhoe have delivered affordable homes, community spaces, and business units, often reinvesting rental income back into local initiatives. These […]
Rural Climathons
Climathons are helping rural communities co-design local responses to climate challenges—through collaboration, creativity, and practical action. Adapted from the original Climate-KIC methodology, this approach has been tailored for rural areas by the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). One example is the Forest of Dean Food and Farming Climathon, held in February 2025, which focused […]
Rural Community Energy
Community-led energy projects are helping rural areas take control of their sustainability and resilience—generating local benefits while contributing to national net zero goals. As rural regions face rising grid reinforcement costs, decentralised energy solutions are becoming more urgent and more viable. This resource highlights how community organisations are leading renewable energy initiatives that improve local […]
State of the Art Review: Supporting Rural Businesses
Innovation support often overlooks the realities of rural business, yet local adaptations are helping to bridge the gap. This resource explores how rural businesses—despite being highly innovative—face structural disadvantages compared to their urban counterparts, including weaker infrastructure, digital connectivity challenges, and limited access to skills. Standard support systems often fail to account for these differences. […]
Investing in Rural Innovation
Innovation in rural areas often emerges through adaptation—modifying existing practices, tools, and systems to address evolving challenges in practical and locally meaningful ways. This resource explores how innovation functions not only as a source of new products or technologies but as a process of continuous improvement within rural businesses, farms, and communities. Rather than focusing […]
Community Spaces Partnership
The Community Spaces Partnership (CSP) brings together three organisations—Community Action Northumberland (CAN), Action with Communities in Cumbria (ACT), and Durham Community Action (DCA)—to invest in rural community spaces with the support of the National Lottery Community Fund. Their focus is on enabling long-term sustainability, advancing net zero goals, and addressing structural barriers faced by rural […]
Agri-food Transitions to Net Zero
Agri-food innovation is playing a vital role in the transition to net zero, with rural areas at the centre of experimentation and change. This resource brings together case studies and research exploring how farming systems are adapting—across areas such as animal science, soil carbon, and land use. It features a blog post and State of […]
Models of Engagement with Rural Communities
Community engagement is driving new forms of collaboration, policy development, and local innovation in rural areas. This resource draws on insights from ‘Community Visioning’ events held in Hexham and Wooler, where practitioners, community groups, policymakers, and researchers came together to share knowledge and explore future possibilities for rural development. The case studies showcase how different […]
Future of Work for Rural Employers
Rural workplaces are changing—shaped by new expectations around flexibility, fairness, communication, and well-being. A series of workshops led by the Rural Design Centre Innovation Project, in partnership with NICRE and Stick Theory, explored how these shifts are playing out in rural settings. The sessions focused on organisational culture, mental health, and the future of work, […]
E-cargo bikes: Potential for Rural Innovation
Electric cargo (e-cargo) bikes are emerging as a practical and sustainable option for last-mile delivery in rural areas—offering a low-emission alternative to vans, particularly for smaller-scale logistics. This resource explores how e-cargo bikes are being adopted by rural businesses to navigate geographic dispersion, reduce carbon emissions, and lower operational costs. While often associated with urban […]
Shared Rural Network (SRN) Transforming Mobile Coverage Countrywide
The Shared Rural Network (SRN) will deliver reliable mobile broadband to 95% of the UK, addressing the digital divide by improving 4G coverage in the areas that need it most. Author(s): UK Government and Mobile Network Operators Year: 2023
Digital exclusion and the cost of living
This submission to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee by the Rural Services Network (RSN) highlights the persistent digital exclusion challenges faced by rural communities in England. The evidence underscores how inadequate broadband and mobile connectivity, coupled with affordability issues and demographic factors, exacerbate social and economic inequalities in rural regions. Author(s): House […]
