Linda Watson says the county’s rural communities are far from dead

It is hard to say for how long the death of England’s villages has been forecast, but it’s certainly decades and possibly centuries. Is there any truth in it? As the outgoing chief executive of Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, I think not.

ORCC is the county’s leading community development charity, and having worked with Oxfordshire’s rural communities for 94 years, we know what we are talking about.

So first, the bad news.

Nationally, there’s a long and depressing list of rural services that have steadily declined — petrol stations, schools, post offices, libraries and pubs. Oxfordshire scores badly across all fronts, with about 85,000 residents living more than two hours’ travel time from a hospital by public transport.

And over 500 rural households are more than 20km from a JobCentre. Our bus services are limited and usually cease at 6pm.

No surprises that rural residents travel nearly twice as far by car each year than people in towns. Yet almost 10,500 rural households in the county — over 7,000 of them pensioner households — don’t even have a car. With a dramatically ageing population, this is likely to get worse.

As for housing costs, 80 per cent of respondents to ORCC’s routine housing needs surveys said they couldn’t afford average local rents, while buying is just a pipe dream.

Nevertheless in many places, an understandable urge to protect beautiful villages from new development means young families will have no choice but to move away.

So what’s the good news? Well, the fact is that in spite of these pressures, rural community life is alive and well.

A glance at any parish newsletter shows a wealth of things going on — with some communities having as many as 200 local groups and societies.

In nearly 300 Oxfordshire villages, local communities own and manage their own village hall, while more than 20 villages run their own shop — a massive commitment of time and effort by people doing everything from filling the shelves to doing the accounts.

And, in over 50 communities, local people offer their services to drive people to and from health appointments. All this is done without pay and without fuss by local people who care about their community and are committed to making a difference.

On top of this, at any one time, about 50 rural parishes are busy doing ‘community-led plans’ which involve almost everyone (commonly 70 per cent and upwards) in deciding what matters to them locally and how they can make things happen.

Over the years I’ve seen how, with help from ORCC, a community-led plan really brings people together and gets over the common complaint of ‘it’s always the same few people that do things’. Doing a plan can really transform the way a village ‘works’ — well worth it.

Meanwhile, in 10 years we have successfully overseen the building of 525 affordable homes in small rural communities.

These are especially for local people and have made it possible to safeguard strong family ties that often span several generations.

No one would claim that everything is rosy. But, at ORCC, we see — and help create — 21st-century villages that are adaptable, outward looking, and rising to new challenges.

We see communities making their village halls more welcoming, warm and energy efficient. We see communities doing all kinds of imaginative things to reduce their carbon footprint. We see communities that are ‘on the ball’ when it comes to emergencies like bird flu, snow, or flooding; and that are meeting new needs like helping to keep dementia sufferers involved in community life for as long as possible.

We see communities that are impatient for better broadband — and have already done something about it themselves. In sum, the best 21st-century villages are stronger and more inclusive than they have ever been.

To misquote Mark Twain, reports of their death are exaggerated . . .

Linda Watson is outgoing chief executive of the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council