Rural services support

Support for rural services in Gloucestershire

GRCC works with communities and businesses looking at ways of addressing rural services issues in Gloucestershire. This includes privately owned businesses and community owned enterprises offering services such as broadband provision, post office services, banking, social facilities (including pubs and community centres), rural retail, childcare and health services.

Your first point of call is Chris Cowcher, GRCC Rural Services Adviser – christopherc@grcc.org.uk.

To find out how GRCC are working with Gloucestershire First to bring high-speed broadband providers to Gloucestershire please click here.
To learn more about the 11 members Gloucestershire Community Shops Network and what advice and support is available to new shop projects from GRCC and other organisations please click here.

Rural Services Support Group

GRCC coordinates the Gloucestershire Rural Services Support Group (RSSG).The RSSG is a partnership of public, private, voluntary and community sector organisations aiming to identify and address issues affecting rural services in Gloucestershire.

Members of the RSSG include:

Rural Shops Alliance
Co-Operative Futures
Post Office Ltd
Federation of Small Businesses
Plunkett Foundation
Gloucestershire First (GFirst)

Gloucestershire County Council
Cotswold District Council
Tewkesbury Borough Council
Stroud District Council
Forest of Dean District Council

Achievements of the group to date are:

Direct 1 to 1 support for community and social enterprises (including community owned facilities)
Advice and signposting services to expert support for private enterprises (including privately owned shops and post offices)
The establishment of a Gloucestershire community shop network to allow sharing of information, experiences and good practice between the current 11 members and potential new shop projects
The provision of advice and support to communities and businesses during the Post Office Network Change Programme in 2008 and continued support to communities wanting advice relating to sustaining postal services
The commissioning of consultancy work from the Rural Shops Alliance for businesses affected by the Post Office Network Change Programme
The development of the Business Support and Enhancement Grant scheme, funded by Gloucestershire County Council which supported 12 projects in the county
The publication of a directory of support which includes details of support available from all partner organisations of the rural services support group and also contact details for these organizations – to view the directory of support please click here.

Contact details

If you have any queries with regard to rural services in Gloucestershire or would like to find out more about the Rural Services Support Group and its work, please do not hesitate to contact Chris Cowcher at christopherc@grcc.org.uk

GRCC provides support to community and social enterprises in Gloucestershire as part of the Rural Development Programme for England. Please click on the logo above to find out about what support is available.

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