Independent research commissioned by the Rural Services Network (RSN) last year shows that rural areas are suffering more acutely from the cost of living crisis than urban areas. To lend more weight to the argument for more funding for rural areas the RSN is calling on as many rural residents as possible to complete a rural cost of living household survey. The online survey is not difficult to complete and you can omit any questions that you do not want to answer. The RSN is part of the Local Government Association and is campaigning for fairer funding for rural areas. It has launched the survey in partnership with the Citizens Advice Rural Issues Group. Please forward this information to anyone you know who lives in a rural area. You can complete the survey by clicking on this link.
Category: surveys
Surveys and consultations that may be of interest to residents of Carham parish.
Storm Arwen Review
Northumberland County Council is carrying out a review of the impact of Storm Arwen and the response to it. It wants to hear from individuals and local businesses about their experience of the storm and the multi-agency response to it, including that of the County Council itself. As well as examining the disruption caused by the storm and the response to that disruption, the review will make recommendations to ensure that everyone is better prepared for similar events in the future. Please send your written submission to Sean Nicholson at Northumberland County Council, County Hall, Morpeth NE61 2EF.
Have Your Say on NHS and Social Care Services
Healthwatch Northumberland is an independent organisation that exists to make sure that people’s views on health and social care are heard. It is now holding monthly drop-in sessions to give residents the opportunity to talk about their experiences of NHS and social care services. The nearest drop-in sessions are held in Berwick-upon-Tweed on the second Wednesday of the month, from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon, or you can join the monthly online drop-in sessions on the second Friday of the month from 1.00 pm to 2.00 pm. For more information, go to the Healthwatch Northumberland website, call 03332 408 468, or send an email. The equivalent service in Scotland is Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
Gigabit Broadband Survey
Northumberland will be one of the first counties in England to benefit from a UK Government project to provide next-generation gigabit broadband to hard-to-reach homes and businesses by 2025. Gigabit broadband is ten times faster than superfast broadband, at 1,000 Mb per second. Northumberland County Council is working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and telecoms providers to thoroughly research and map the county for its existing and future broadband infrastructure, to help it identify hard-to-reach premises. To ensure that Carham parish’s connectivity needs are included and not overlooked, please complete the DCMS survey, and please encourage others to do so, too – particularly those who live in outlying farms and communities. The survey deadline is 11 June.
Library Services Public Consultation
Northumberland County Council is seeking views on the library service. It says: “We would like to understand how you use the library service at the moment, what services are important to you and how we can improve these services in future. You do not need to be a regular user of library services in order to complete [the] survey – we are interested to hear your views whether you use the library services regularly, just occasionally or even if you have never used a local library service. Your feedback will help us shape both the future direction of our library services and how we will deliver them.”
For more information and to complete the survey, go to the Library Services Public Consultation page on the Northumberland County Council library site.
Carham Community Website 