What's important to you?

What will rural Britain look like in 2020?

Simon Berry, Chief Executive of ruralnet|uk wants to know and is taking an innovative approach to find out. He is asking people to contribute their thoughts and ideas online at a new website launched today: www.2020vision.ruralnet.org.uk.

Simon commented:

“We want to do this collectively because many heads are better than one or two - and there is a great deal of significance to something that has been created by hundreds of people. Visions can inspire and motivate - and they can inform policy and influence strategy. This is an opportunity for people to contribute to a collective vision for rural Britain - something quite unique and special.”

Simon is encouraging people to consider things that we’d like to see change; things we’d want to preserve and things we don’t have now that we’d like to have in the future.

Simon kicked off this process by collecting over 200 personal visions from delegates at the joint ruralnet|uk and Action for Market Towns conference in Skipton this month. He wants many more and is keen to get people thinking and writing. Visit www.2020vision.ruralnet.org.uk to make a contribution, to take a look at this experiment in more detail or read through the visions to date.

Andy Tordoff, Yorkshire Forward

Notes to Editors
1. ruralnet|uk is a rural development charity (no 1089238). For more information go to www.ruralnetuk.org
2. Future Choices - Live & Local - the joint event with ruralnet|uk and Action for Market Towns took place in Skipton on 1/2 October 2008. For further information and to view video footage, plenary session and workshop presentations made, please see www.futurechoices.ruralnet.org.uk