Rural depopulation - Communities can’t be left to fade away

Urbanisation is one of the great, surging tides of the age. Sixty years ago 30% of people lived in towns or cities.

By 2008 that had reached 50%. Already more people live in towns or cites than in the countryside and that figure is expected to reach 60% by 2030.

This trend has inevitable consequences for the quality of life available outside of urban centres. Unless this change is managed properly it will have a negative impact on the fabric, viability and depth of local, parish-sized societies. Failure to prepare for the inevitable depopulation will have a snowball effect and sharpen the sense of isolation and abandonment some communities already feel.