About the East of England Rural Forum

The East of England Rural Forum (EERF) is the voice of rural stakeholders in the East of England region. The EERF's main role is to influence and scrutinise rural delivery, challenge the delivery agencies and provide the rural perspective on the development of regional policy and strategies.

The EERF functions under the auspices of the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) within the regional governance structure. In association with the seven other Regional Rural Affairs Forums, the EERF has an influencing and informing role at national level via regular contacts with Ministers in Defra and other Government departments.

The East of England Rural Affairs Forum (EERAF) was originally set up in 2002 to carry out the role of 'rural sounding board' as set out in the 2000 Rural White Paper.

The Rural Strategy, published in 2004, included a description of a range of new functions for Regional Rural Forums. In response, Government Office for the East of England facilitated a review of the EERAF, in partnership with other regional organisations and members of the EERAF itself. The East of England Rural Forum (EERF) is the result of that review.

The Forum consists of representatives from a range of constituencies in the region that are intended to reflect regional thematic and geographic balances across the three pillars of sustainable development - environment, economy and community.

The purpose of the Rural Forum is to provide a voice for rural stakeholders at a strategic level, capable of influencing the rural agenda in the East of England. It provides a channel of communication between rural stakeholders, the Regional Assembly, government and other organisations.

The Rural Forum plays an important part in the evolving Regional Rural Delivery Framework (RRDF). The EERF is coordinating the stakeholder endorsement of the RRDF's developing priorities for rural communities and emerging proposals for revised delivery arrangements.

The Rural Forum will not be responsible for delivery of individual services.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Rural proofing - the Rural Forum will respond to key national and regional strategies to make sure that they take account of the rural stakeholder perspectives
• Priorities - comment on government proposals for rural policy and contribute to the development and review of regional delivery priorities
• Monitoring, scrutinising and reviewing - the Rural Forum will monitor and review rural delivery, identify gaps in service provision and areas where performance could be improved
• Rural Voice - the Rural Forum will act as the rural voice of the region, particularly through developing stronger contacts with a wide range of constituencies and sub-regional partnerships and through the members' regular consultations with their constituencies enabling it to take full advantage of regular contacts with Government Ministers to convey issues of concern
• Regional Assembly - although the Rural Forum will be an independent body, it will provide a link between rural stakeholders and the East of England Regional Assembly, Government Office for the East of England and the East of England Development Agency
• Sub-regional links - County Rural Forums will be expected to contribute to the rural agenda through representation on the regional Forum.

To find out who is on the Forum click here

Related Links

• GO-East Rural Strategy page

Related Documents

• East of England Rural Forum Chair's Job Description (Word)
• Communication Strategy for the East of England Rural Forum (Word)
• East of England Rural Forum Member's Job Description (Word)
• East of England Rural Forum Terms of Reference (Word)