An interesting article in the latest What's Brewing about the "Local
Works" campaign - which is "trying to halt the decline of Britain's
local economies as pubs, corner shops, banks and post offices close at
alarming rates".

We've commented here before about how well served Ambridge is, and in
the light of the recent UMRA GM debate, some of the parties in this
group (which look strange bedfellows to me) are interesting. It
includes: Shelter, the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, Friends
of the Earth the Soil Association and CAMRA.

And when the Seventh Seal was opened I heard Nick Atty
<nospam> cry in a loud voice:

>An interesting article in the latest What's Brewing about the "Local
>Works" campaign - which is "trying to halt the decline of Britain's
>local economies as pubs, corner shops, banks and post offices close at
>alarming rates".
>
>We've commented here before about how well served Ambridge is, and in
>the light of the recent UMRA GM debate, some of the parties in this
>group (which look strange bedfellows to me) are interesting. It
>includes: Shelter, the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, Friends
>of the Earth the Soil Association and CAMRA.

Charter 88 have a press release about Local Works on their website:

http://www.charter88.org.uk/press/0305new_town.html

The only member of the steering group that looks a litle out of place
to me is UNISON, but I suspect that they have members in cottage
hospitals, village schools etc. It looks like a very worthwhile
initiative to me. If it succeeds alongside Common Ground's campaign
for Local Distinctiveness (see http://www.commonground.org.uk/ for
details) then it might save Britain from becoming a suburban
wasteland.

On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 17:43:54 GMT, stephenbowden (Stephen)
wrote:

>And when the Seventh Seal was opened I heard Nick Atty
><nospam> cry in a loud voice:
>>Charter 88 have a press release about Local Works on their website:
>
>[..]
>
>The only member of the steering group that looks a litle out of place
>to me is UNISON, but I suspect that they have members in cottage
>hospitals, village schools etc. It looks like a very worthwhile
>initiative to me. If it succeeds alongside Common Ground's campaign
>for Local Distinctiveness (see [..] for
>details) then it might save Britain from becoming a suburban
>wasteland.

Oh absolutely. I'm reminded of a recent trip along the Southern Oxford
Canal, where we made foray after foray into villages looking for
provisions.

Our two year old guidebook was utterly useless. Almost every place it
listed as having a pub, a shop and a post office was simply a deserted
dormitory, with virtual tumbleweed drifting up the main street on a
workday lunchtime.

I think it was on Mon, 07 Jul 2003, that I heard Nick say ...
>
>Oh absolutely. I'm reminded of a recent trip along the Southern Oxford
>Canal, where we made foray after foray into villages looking for
>provisions.
>
>Our two year old guidebook was utterly useless. Almost every place it
>listed as having a pub, a shop and a post office was simply a deserted
>dormitory, with virtual tumbleweed drifting up the main street on a
>workday lunchtime.

The Direct Credit scheme will increase the rate of closure of rural
sub-post-offices.

In the area of S Oxon you mention I think you'll find that a significant
proportion of the village businesses changed hands in the 1998-2001 period to
burnt-out City types and/or their spouses who have subsequently discovered that
running them was not idyllic so have nuggered orf - and FMD was the final straw.
In this latter respect if you cruise up the Welford Arm you'll discover that two
of the four pubs that were there at the millennium have since closed. The
garage/shop, the PO Stores and the organic farm shop are still there.