SW Rural Commission

Expression of Interest - Presenting evidence in person

The SW Rural Commission will have a series of hearings in June/July to allow contributors to present evidence in person. If you are interested in presenting to the commission and responding to their questions, please complete the form below. We anticipate that the contributors will be asked to provide a 10 minute presentation, with up to 20 minutes of questions from the panel. The hearings will be held in public. As time will be limited at each session, there will be a limited number of spaces. The SW Rural Commission will decide which representatives are asked to present evidence in person.

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* 1. Your details

Name

Organisation

Telephone number

Email address

Postcode

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* 2. Which of the commission questions would like to address?

What does the economy look like in rural areas? (e.g. sectors, jobs, innovation, productivity, demography, housing, skills)

What are the opportunities for growth/productivity improvements in rural areas?

What are the barriers to growth/productivity improvements in rural areas?

How does the rural economy interact with the urban economy and how can this be optimised? To what extent are market and coastal towns providing a 'hub' for their rural hinterlands?

What skills are needed in rural areas, do skills issues differ from urban areas and how do we ensure skills needs are met?

What are the implications of Brexit for the rural economy?

Is there evidence of innovative clusters in the rural economy? If so, how can these be identified, nurtured and replicated?

Drawing on our experience of delivering rural support programmes in the SW, what sort of interventions have been successful and what sort of interventions proved less effective?

What is the potential for businesses to 'scale up' in the rural economy? How can we identify these businesses and support them to grow?

Are there specific challenges for deeply rural areas and how can economies be supported in deeply rural areas?

To what extent have rural areas been able to benefit from wider growth initiatives (e.g. Growth Deals, European funding etc.)

Other issues relating to rural growth/productivity - please specify

Other (please specify)

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* 3. Please provide a brief overview of the evidence you would like to present in person?

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* 4. Please rank your preferred panel session (where 1 = your top preference and 5 your least preference). Please leave blank if you cannot attend.

9th June (Heart of the SW)

20th June (Heart of the SW)

28th June (C&IoS)

6th July (Wiltshire)

18th July (Dorset)