Rural Services Network petition

The Rural Services Network and the Rural Fair Share Campaign are currently petitioning MPs to pursue the issue of rural funding and have asked for the help of councillors in Cheshire East.

The petition has now been distributed throughout the constituencies within the area of Cheshire East looking for constituents to show their support for this petition. The petition is available for Eddisbury constituents to sign in various places throughout the village including Williams the Newsagents, Hoc's Fat Pigeon and the Post Office.

The petition says: "The Petition of the residents of Eddisbury Declares that the petitioners believe that the Local Government Finance Settlement is unfair to rural communities; notes that the Rural Penalty sees urban areas receive 50% more support per head than rural areas despite higher costs in rural service delivery; and opposes the planned freezing of this inequity in the 2013/14 settlement for six years until 2020.

"The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to reduce the Rural Penalty in staged steps by at least 10% by 2020."

The signed petition has to be returned by no later than 25th September 2013, as the petitions from the whole constituency need to be sent en bloc to the Chair of the Rural Fair Shares Campaign by the end of September.

The petitions for each constituency will be handed to the House by a parliamentary procedure across the floor of the House seeking to involve as many relevant rural MPs as possible in the
first part of October.

The Rural Fair Share Campaign is comprised of over 100 cross-party MPs aiming to ensure public services in rural areas receive a fair share of Government funding including Local Government funding.

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