About

Rural communities are often blessed with stunning landscapes, tranquillity and proximity to nature; but under the surface, at least for some, there are real hardships in terms of affordable housing, fuel and food poverty, lack of employment, as well as access to services and transport. 

The Rural Futures programme, which is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, support communities to develop their own ideas to tackle some of these challenges and to make the most of local opportunities – whether that’s the landscape, history of the area, or the skills, knowledge and energy of residents.

Rural Futures, which is run by Severn Wye and the BRO Partnership, will support 14 communities across rural Wales. The seven-year programme started in 2017 and runs in parallel to the National Lottery Community Fund’s wider Rural Programme.

Programme

Rural Futures is a community support programme providing advice and support to fourteen communities across Wales.

It is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund as part of their Rural Programme, a seven-year programme delivered across nine counties in Wales (Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Powys, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Monmouthshire), to support and enable local communities in Wales to address and create effective long-term solutions to the issues associated with living in rural areas.

Community co-production

Our work is led by the needs and aspirations of the communities we support. We work with community members and stakeholders to help identify the root causes of issues and how best to create suitable solutions.  This can include helping them to map local assets and look at how they can use them to their full potential to help with issues in their area. We want to help communities make sense of and develop responses to rural issues, through engaging and working closely them. We aim to add value to the work local organisations and councils are already doing and think about how we can maximise and match the resources available.

Ring fenced funding is available under the wider NLCF Rural Programme for each community, along with microgrants of up to £750 to help communities develop and test ideas.

The Delivery Team

Rural Futures is delivered collectively by Severn Wye and BRO Partnership.

Severn Wye logo

Severn Wye

Severn Wye is are an independent charity and not-for-profit company with a mission to provide practical expertise for more energy-efficient and sustainable living.

Severn Wye logo

BRO

The BRO Partnership specialises in all aspects of sustainable development and placemaking including community engagement and empowerment and natural resource management.

We have five Place Coordinators working with communities and three central members of the team:

  • Victoria Bancroft*, Severn Wye, Place Coordinator working with Kilgetty, Llandysul, Llandovery and New Quay.
  • Mark Gahan*, Severn Wye, Place Coordinator, working in Bro Machno, Glantwymyn, Llangollen, Gwalchmai and Bryngwran.
  • Peter Willis, Severn Wye, Place Coordinator, working in NE Monmouthshire, Sennybridge, Llandovery and Llanelly Hill.
  • Adrian Roberts*, Severn Wye, Place Coordinator, working in Talybolion, Deiniolen, Llangollen and Trawsfynydd.
  • Dave Gittins, Severn Wye
  • Rob Owen*, BRO Partnership
  • Sue Rice, BRO Partnership
Victoria Bancroft

Victoria Bancroft

Severn Wye, Place Coordinator

Working with Kilgetty, Llandysul, Llandovery and New Quay.

Mark Gahan

Mark Gahan

Severn Wye, Place Coordinator

Working in Bro Machno, Glantwymyn, Llangollen, Gwalchmai and Bryngwran.

Pete Willis

Pete Willis

Severn Wye, Place Coordinator

Working in NE Monmouthshire, Sennybridge, Llandovery and Llanelly Hill.

Adrian Roberts

Adrian Roberts

Severn Wye, Place Coordinator

Working in Talybolion, Deiniolen, Llangollen and Trawsfynydd.

Dave Gittins

Dave Gittins

Severn Wye

Rob Owen

Rob Owen

BRO Partnership

Sue Rice

Sue Rice

BRO Partnership

Rural Expert

As part of the Rural Futures Programme, we have engaged a Rural Poverty Expert, Professor Paul Milbourne to carry out a review of published academic and policy work on rural poverty in Wales and an analysis of official statistical data on poverty and deprivation in rural Wales.  This has provided an overview of the current rural poverty situation and a typology of rural communities to support the project team in selecting communities for the in-depth work.

Paul Milbourne is Head of the School of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University, and is an expert in the rural dimensions of poverty, social exclusion and welfare in Wales, the UK and internationally. He has been awarded research grants totalling £10.5 million to examine these and other themes from the Economic and Social Research Council, RCUK, Welsh Government, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Finnish Academy, Home Office, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Forestry Commission, Countryside Agency, Big Lottery Fund, local government, and anti-poverty organisations.

Paul has published widely on the themes of rural welfare, including seven books and more than 100 journal articles, book chapters and policy reports. Many of these publications have drawn on research conducted in rural Wales. Of particular note to this application are three books: Rural Wales in the Twenty First Century: society, economy and environment, published in 2011 by University of Wales Press; Rural Poverty: marginalisation and exclusion in Britain and the United States, published in 2004 by Routledge, and; Rural Wales: community and marginalization, published in 1997 by the University of Wales Press.

Paul’s extensive knowledge of rural poverty in Wales will provide much-needed specialist input into informing the Community Development support work, the community-led initiatives the programme is seeking to trigger and develop, and supporting the evaluation. Moreover, his role will help facilitate and enhance wider dissemination of the programme’s findings at an academic and policy level.

Prof Paul Milbourne

Prof Paul Milbourne

Head of the School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University

Expert Advisory Panel

An Expert Advisory Panel (EAP) has been established to support, steer and challenge the delivery team responsible for delivering the Rural Futures Programme.

The EAP will make a vital contribution in:

  • Ensuring that the overall Programme is run in the most effective and innovate way,
  • That the results are shared in a way that will have the greatest impact across Wales, and
  • The 14 selected communities receive the best support they can to create effective long-term solutions to rural poverty.

The EAP is a non-executive, advisory role to support and provide robust, constructive challenge to the management team of the Rural Futures programme. It will also bring examples of best practice and ways of working from different sectors to support the programme.

Specific objectives of the Expert Advisory Panel include:

  1. Providing advice, support and challenge to the Rural Futures programme management team and the evaluation of the programme
  2. Champion the programme and disseminate learning to key organisations across Wales to influence future decisions and policy on rural poverty. Dissemination should be both up and out to maximise the potential to influence policy.
  3. Ensure there is an awareness of best practice and outcomes from current and previous programmes and identify opportunities for collaboration, partnership working and funding
  4. Identifying opportunities to trial new and innovative practices to address rural poverty

The Panel members have been selected because of their diverse experience and expertise and because of their ability to influence thinking and future policy on rural poverty by championing and disseminating the learning from the Programme.

Rural Futures Expert Advisory Panel members

Members:

  • Peter Davies – Chair (WCVA)
  • Helen Minnice Smith (Welsh Government, Rural Economy and Legislation Division)
  • Aaron Fort (Welsh Government)
  • Mike Learmond (Federation of Small Businesses)
  • Mark Hooper (Indycube)
  • David Lea-Wilson (Halen Mon)
  • Liz Bickerton (Independent)
  • David Skydmore (Independent)

Observers:

  • Rob Roffe (TNLCF)
  • Endaf Griffiths (Wavehill)
  • Nina Sharp (Wavehill)
  • Paul Milbourne (Cardiff university)

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

In order to ensure we capture the learning from the programme we have put in place a robust and impartial monitoring and evaluation framework, undertaken by Wavehill.

Wavehill have been part of the team from the beginning, operating as a critical friend and advising on all aspects of monitoring and evaluation. They have helped ensure that our approach to capturing and analysing the impacts – at local, county and national levels – are based on a solid foundation.

As well as capturing the learning from the Rural Futures programme, we would also like to help the communities we work with, and others in a similar situation, to learn from the work of others, both within Wales and further afield. Many of the issues facing rural communities in Wales have been experienced by other communities who have taken action to try and resolve them.  As a result, we have developed a toolkit of ideas and possibilities to inspire groups and help them realise what is possible.

Toolkit of ideas

Coming soon!