Regional Rural Affairs Forums
There is a Rural Affairs Forum for each Government Office region outside London. Regional Rural Affairs Forums were established following the publication of the Rural White Paper in 2000. The Rural Strategy 2004 announced a strengthening of the link between Ministers and rural areas by developing a closer relationship with Rural Affairs Forums and their Chairs. Rural Affairs Forums now provide the prime communication mechanism between organisations and agencies that are responsible for the development and delivery of rural policy.

The East Midlands Rural Affairs Forum (EMRAF)

Sheep stampede through Epperstone The East Midlands Rural Affairs Forum (EMRAF) provides a forum for sharing information on issues and initiatives affecting rural areas. EMRAF’s role is to champion rural interests in the region by identifying issues of concern, giving views on new regional proposals and consultations and promoting the development of regional initiatives with the aim to improve the quality of life in the region’s rural areas.

Since it’s launch in 2002, EMRAF has developed into a network of over 68 organisations from the public, private and voluntary sector. The Forum has an independent Chair, who meets with the Minster for Rural Affairs several times a year. The operation of the Forum is overseen by the Operations Group and the role of the co-ordination of EMRAF activities and delivery is facilitated by the Regional Director of Rural Community Action East Midlands.

A Project Officer provides support to the Regional Director to help deliver the activities of EMRAF and it’s 4 Subgroups: Quality Services Accessible to All, A Thriving Rural Economy, Sustainable & Inclusive Communities Incorporating Housing and A High Quality Environment. A Communications Officer provides effective communication tools for EMRAF and its members and provides secretarial support to the Operations Group. The full forum meet 4 times a year (one of the meetings being the EMRAF Annual Conference) to endorse and initiate actions.

Newsflash
East Midlands Rural Framework 2010 - 2013 & New Regional Director for RCA East Midlands
The East Midlands Rural Framework has now been published and is available for download on the Action Plan page of this website. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the document please contact Lynn Hage EMRAF Communications Officer on 01623 727600. New Regional Director for Rural Community Action East Midlands (RCAEM) Julie Bowers will take up the position as Regional Director for Rural Community Action East Midlands with responsibility for the Co-ordination of the East Midlands Rural Affairs Forum from 1st April 2010. Julie will come to EMRAF from her current post as Performance Specialist with the Audit Commission. She has a background in sport and leisure management which included a post as Sports and Events Officer for a rural tourism partnership in Northumberland. Here she worked with local businesses and regional agencies to develop and promote everything from Mountain bike routes to Husky dog racing!! Julie also spent 2 years in Nottingham working within the health sector developing partnership projects and during her 7 years with the Audit Commission led on the development of a performance management framework for LSP’s and undertook a wide range of work across the East Midlands.



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