Time to reclaim the countryside

The trouble is, in all walks of life, we are told what to do every minute of the day. Even the high-powered CEOs and MDs recieve a regular dose of humility from the faceless bureaucats who have turned free-thinking into a crime.

You see, although we assume that local councils enjoy consulting with the masses at every turn, the reality is they hate it. For them, getting the job done as quickly as possible is the most important job of all - regardless of who or what gets in the way.

Those of you who have braved a council planning meeting while making an objection will no doubt have noticed the complete disregard in which you are held. For objectors read obstructors.

Thankfully there is a new boy in town who very much likes the idea of chin-wagging with locals to find out exactly how they feel. It spends lots of money commissioning research which, for once, is truly needed and not only listens to people's grievances in the rural community but does something positive about it.

Formed in 2004, the Carnegie Trust is the countryside's answer to Sherlock Holmes.

True, as of yesterday it has had to extinguish the pipe in public spaces, but it is there to investigate what is going on in rural communities and to find out exactly what we need most. Sounds novel? Well, it is. But this novelty has some teeth.

A clever mix of industrialists, council and farm leaders, academics, regeneration and funding experts, ecologists and even a journalist, the Carnegie Trust wants to protect the long term future of our towns and villages.

Not for them the knee-jerk, the reactionary and the headline-grabbing (unlike any of our political parties), they are here to listen, to cogitate, to digest and to look at the future.

So it won't be of any surprise to learn that it has taken three years of rumination to come up with their first plan of action.

And judging by the length of their 41-point rural charter, they haven't wasted one second of their time. As a leader article in the Guardian put it: "Their recommendations are as complex, diverse, contrary, and sometimes as confusing, as rural Britain itself. There is no one solution, they say, but a phenomenal number of choices."

So, where as local government prefers the one-size-fits-all method, the Carnegie Trust understands that every single one of us has different needs and different priorities.

There were three suggestions that came up time and time again: greater community ownership of rural asset; the strengthening of democracy at the grassroots level, and for all communities to be given the right to raise taxes.

At this point Gordon Brown will be in need of resuscitation, for the ability to not only control finances but control people has been top of the agenda for government on all levels - from parish councils to Whitehall.

Carnegie's desire is the opposite. It realises that each community only knows what is truly best for that community and gives ownership in place of orders.

Out goes stifling red tape and senseless bureaucracy which have blighted the lives of Britons for generations. In its place the communities are told there is no barrier to their achievements.

True, there are situations where the expertise of local government is vital, but by handing over power lock, stock and barrel we have simply created a monster which wants to play a meddling role in our every move.

We've had Reclaim the Streets, now it's time to Reclaim the Countryside.