Ten steps that can save rural Britain, by Prince Charles

The Prince of Wales has helped publish a ‘survival guide’ for struggling rural communities which advises on everything from starting their own bus service to creating a ‘telephone tree’ for emergencies.

Charles has been a passionate advocate of the countryside and set up The Prince’s Countryside Fund almost a decade ago to help financially stricken family farm businesses flourish with £10million in grants.

Now it has launched a 104-page booklet, The Village Survival Guide, a manual for rural life filled with tips and advice on the best ways to build a strong community.

The colourful guide is an entertaining collection of case histories, checklists and practical advice. There are also examples of how communities have started to help themselves with services such as the ‘Rural Coffee Caravan’ which, through 50 volunteers, offers coffee, cakes and a help service to the elderly, young parents and carers in rural Suffolk.

The guide also highlights schemes such as The Pub is the hub, supported by the prince, which fights to keep pubs at the heart of their communities. Some have opened cafes and community games rooms to diversify and encourage new clientele, while others have incorporated the local post office to share costs.

It also focuses on enterprise and how to set up a local business hub to encourage entrepreneur-based industries, while another section outlines how communities, driven mad by the lack of broadband, have created cooperatives to provide wi-fi services, often with the help of their church.

In a foreword, Charles says: ‘There are huge opportunities to help the countryside and rural people meet the challenges of the future. The role of the countryside, with all its diversity and idiosyncrasies, in our national life is too important to be left to chance.’

The guide includes an article by comedian Miranda hart who was born and bred in the countryside and is an ambassador for the fund. She said: ‘Nobody living in the countryside should be alone. If community is the key to living well, then everyone needs to be connected and that means practical changes to many areas, from transport to technology.’

The guide is available to purchase in hard copy or to download for free from the fund’s website.