• Peter Richardson

DEFRA Minister's visit to GRCC

Photo above, left to right, Barbara Piranty, GRCC CEO, and Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP, Minister for Nature and Rural Communities.

On Tuesday 4th August we were really delighted to host a visit from Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP, the newly appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Jenny's brief in DEFRA covers nature and rural communities, and having just been appointed by the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, coming to see us was Jenny's very first ministerial visit!

Photo above, left to right, Frazer Bufton, GRHP, Barbara Pond, GRCC, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP, Matt Bishop MP, Terri Hibberd, Two Rivers Housing, Barbara Piranty, GRCC

Jenny has a particular interest in rural affordable housing, and one of the main aims of her trip to GRCC was to visit Whitehall Close in Berry Hill, near Coleford in the Forest of Dean. This new development of 17 affordable homes opened in December 2025, and came about as a result of work we did with the Berry Hill community starting in 2019, helping them identify their local housing needs, find land, and design and build the affordable homes in partnership with local housing association Two Rivers Housing .

We also worked closely with West Dean Parish Council and Forest of Dean District Council on the project. The development is a great example of localism - all the new residents of Whitehall Close are people with close connections to Berry Hill who were in urgent need of affordable housing, and the development was built by Forest of Dean based building firm Mike Etheridge Construction Ltd .

Photo above - Tim Gwilliam, GRCC Rural Housing Enabler, outlines to Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP the story of how the local community were able to create this much-needed affordable housing. (Left to right: Frazer Bufton, GRHP, Tim Gwilliam, GRCC, Di Martin, Forest of Dean District Council, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP, Matt Bishop MP, Gary Jones of Mike Etheridge Construction Ltd, Terri Hibberd, Two Rivers Housing.)

During the visit, Jenny heard about the history of the development, and the many challenges involved in creating new rural affordable housing, from Tim Gwilliam MBE. Tim is now a Rural Housing Enabler at GRCC, and is also a councillor for Berry Hill on West Dean Parish Council and Forest of Dean District Council, and was involved in the housing project from the beginning.

Jenny visited several of the homes and chatted with residents in great detail about their housing stories and the impact that these new affordable houses have had on their lives.

Jenny's visit to Whitehall Close involved meeting representatives of all of the organisations who were involved in the project, which included GRCC and the Gloucestershire Rural Housing Partnership (GRHP) which we coordinate, Forest of Dean District Council, Two Rivers Housing, Mike Etheridge Construction, and the current MP for the Forest of Dean, Matt Bishop, also accompanied Jenny on the visit. Most importantly, Jenny met several of the Whitehall Close residents, and talked with them at length about their previous housing situations and the impact on their lives of now having secure, affordable homes in the local area that they needed to live in. Two of the residents also invited the minister into their homes to see for herself how well-designed and well-built they are.

Left to right, Fiona White, Head of Rural Communities at DEFRA, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP, Dan Gale, GRCC's Digital Equity Manager.

After the tour of Whitehall Close in Berry Hill, Jenny came to Community House, GRCC's office in central Gloucester, for a working lunch, and a presentation from our Digital Equity Team about the work that we are doing across Gloucestershire to reduce inequalities in access to digital and tech, including our digital social prescribers and digital navigators, our digital support drop-ins, our device bank, data bank, and digital triage service, and the fantastic work of our 30+ digital volunteers. The Minister also learned about the team's Community-Led Data Development work, and work on AI for communities, and scam awareness. Jenny was joined on the whole visit by Fiona White, who is Head of Rural Communities at DEFRA, and by Elena Cho, Private Secretary to the Minister.

Photo above: the meeting also included Louise Fletcher and Emma Eccleston from our Digital Equity team who spoke about the work they do in communities to support individuals and organisations.

During this meeting, members of our Digital team Louise Fletcher and Emma Eccleston discussed with the Minister the grassroots digital equity work they are doing in communities across Gloucestershire - Louise as our ACORN Project Digital Navigator, and Emma as a Digital and Tech Social Prescriber. Also at the meeting were Abs and Elizabeth, two local people who have been supported by our Digital Equity Team, who told Jenny about the huge difference GRCC's digital support has made to them.

Photo above (L-R): Abs and Elizabeth who have benefitted from the GRCC Digital Equity team's help, with Dan Gale of GRCC and DEFRA Minister Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP.

“We were delighted to welcome the Minister to Gloucestershire on her first visit since her appointment as DEFRA Minister for Nature & Rural Communities," said GRCC CEO Barbara Piranty.

"Our visit to the Forest of Dean’s newest rural affordable housing development, Whitehall Close in Berry Hill, demonstrated how our partnership working with key stakeholders, including the parish council, Housing Association and local builders has delivered much-needed affordable homes for local people in genuine housing need."

"The Minister also met residents before returning to Community House, where our Digital Equity team showcased the bespoke support we provide to vulnerable and digitally excluded communities across the county. Our work across both rural and urban communities is focused on creating sustainable, inclusive solutions, and we hope the Minister was inspired by what she saw and the people she met.”

Find out more on our website about the work of our Rural Affordable Housing Team and our Digital Equity Team. If you'd like to speak to us about our work, or find out how we can help you, or explore working in partnership with us, do get in touch by email to info@grcc.org.uk or call us on 01452 528491.