Blog | Jessica's Rural Words

February 25 2017

How (agriculturally) innovative are rural places?

There are now a number of Government and industry initiatives and funding streams to support agricultural innovation in the UK. This is part of a commitment from Government to create more jobs and promote growth through its Industrial Strategy; as well as a commitment from industry to take ideas ‘from the lab to the market […]

January 23 2017

The [rural] impacts of a better defence estate

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation supports the armed forces in building, maintaining and servicing the infrastructure needed to enable defence people to live, work, train and deploy. As the DIO seeks to implement its estate optimisation strategy, what are the implications of this ‘significantly smaller, more efficient and better quality estate’ for rural communities? Jessica Sellick […]

December 19 2016

Are rural carers overwhelmed by need?

Carers or caregivers not only reduce demand on health and social care systems but they often do so with very little (if any) support. How can we better understand the role that carers and caregivers play – and what more can be done to recognise and support them, especially in rural areas? Jessica Sellick […]

November 28 2016

Do rural communities face a ‘justice desert’?

Since the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215 to the creation of the Crown Court in the 1970s, each generation has updated or reformed the justice system. Meeting the needs of judges, magistrates, legal professionals, witnesses, victims, defendants, individual citizens and businesses is at the heart of the Government’s latest reforms for Courts. But what […]

October 9 2016

Where the wild things are – a ‘future natural’ countryside?

Recent years have seen proposals to reintroduce lynx, wolves and bears into the countryside. The idea has captured the public imagination – but what does “rewilding” mean for rural communities? Jessica Sellick investigates. In 2011, I visited Ennerdale Valley – home to more than 100 species of wildlife, slopes lined with forest, open fell and […]