
What do the hedgerow regulations mean for future hedge management?
Hedgerows are a defining feature of the countryside and bustling with life – from the hedgehogs that call them home to the bees butterflies and other wildlife they sustain. They also play an important role in farming, ensuring soils remain healthy and reducing the impacts of flooding or drought. And there is growing evidence that […]

What are Spending Reviews, and do they result in (more) public spending in rural communities?
The Government’s arrangements for planning, budgeting, spending and monitoring involve HM Treasury, departments and the Cabinet Office. HM Treasury allocates funding to departments through annual budgets and multi-year spending reviews. Departments then use those funds to deliver programmes and activities. How are Spending Reviews carried out, and why are they important for rural communities? Jessica […]
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How can rural communities become more resilient to extreme weather events?
Back in December 2022 the Government published its Resilience Framework. This took a strategic approach to resilience and led the Cabinet Office to reorganise its resilience functions to create separate capabilities for ‘preparedness & risk reduction’ and ‘crisis response.’ With global temperatures continuing to rise extreme weather events could become more frequent and severe. What […]

Central bank forecasting: do the models work for rural communities?
Economic models are quantitative frameworks used by almost all central banks, including the Bank of England (BoE), to test assumptions using economic data. Back in 2013, at his Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences lecture, Lars Peter Hanson said “part of meaningful quantitative analysis is to look at models and try to figure out their […]
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Underground or Overground –should we bury electricity cables?
The electricity transmission system in England and Wales consists of approximately 7,200 kilometres (4,470 miles) of overhead line and 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) of underground cable operating at 275,000 and 400,000 volts (275kV and 400kV). The term ‘undergrounding’ refers to the replacement of overhead cables with underground cables. When and where is undergrounding currently used […]