In this article, Hayley Neal, Chief Executive, reflects on how Cambridgeshire ACRE’s consultancy work turns local insight into practical action, helping organisations deliver lasting impact in rural communities.

 

At Cambridgeshire ACRE, we do not see consultancy as an add‑on to our work, but an extension of it.

Every day, we work alongside rural communities, parish councils, charities and partners to understand what is really happening on the ground. That insight shapes the consultancy support we offer – practical, evidence-led and designed to deliver results that last.

Our consultancy is grounded in over a century of experience supporting rural communities. That matters, because many of the challenges our clients face – whether around governance, engagement, housing or service delivery – are not theoretical. They are complex, local and often under‑resourced. So we do not bring a generic model; we bring context, relationships and a clear focus on outcomes.

What we actually do – and why it works

Our consultancy services span a range of areas, from community engagement and rural proofing through to energy audits, volunteer development, neighbourhood planning and community‑led housing. The common thread is simple: we help organisations make better decisions by grounding them in local evidence and real community insight.

That might mean:

• designing engagement processes that go beyond consultation and actually influence decisions
• gathering robust evidence to support investment or planning decisions
• helping organisations test whether their strategies genuinely work in rural contexts
• turning complex issues into clear, practical next steps

A good example is our housing needs surveys. These provide independent, evidence‑based insight into what homes are actually needed in a community, helping inform discussions with planners, housing associations and developers. The value here is not just the data. It is trust. When communities can see that decisions are based on evidence gathered locally, the quality of the conversation changes.

From evidence to action – recent examples

Our recent consultancy work reflects that same principle: start with understanding, then move to delivery:

• In Sawston, we undertook a private housing needs survey on behalf of a private developer, and with the support of South Cambridgeshire District Council, to build a detailed, evidence‑based picture of local demand.
• Nationally, we administered the Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund on behalf of ACRE, supporting community organisations to access and manage capital funding effectively, resulting in building improvements that will make village halls better used.
• In East Cambridgeshire, we worked with Anglian Water to deliver the Just Bin It campaign, using community‑led approaches to influence behaviour at scale across three villages (Soham, Isleham and Fordham).

The Just Bin It campaign is a useful example because it highlights a common misconception about consultancy. It is often assumed that success comes from messaging. In reality, it comes from engagement. The campaign focused on helping residents understand how their everyday behaviours were impacting local sewer systems and the environment, with a clear and simple call to action – only flush the “3 Ps” and bin everything else.

But the real impact came from how the message was delivered: through local conversations, events and partnerships that made it relevant to everyday life. As a result, Anglian Water have reported a measurable reduction in the number of pipe blockages in these villages.

Case study – embedding change in Soham

Abi Wicks from Anglian Water worked with us on the Just Bin It campaign in Soham. Her feedback is instructive because it reflects both what worked and why. She described how the campaign was “fully embedded into Soham through a range of community engagement events and other media channels”, with strong collaboration between teams and messaging that spread throughout the community – even going viral on social media. Her broader reflection is more telling:

“Cambridgeshire ACRE are an absolute dream to work with. They spent time understanding the brief fully and worked with us and our wider teams to fully embed our campaign… They are always so collaborative and open to try new ideas.”

There are two points worth drawing out here. First, understanding the brief is not a given. Many consultancy models prioritise rapid delivery over deep understanding. That can lead to outputs that look credible but fail to land locally. Second, collaboration is not incidental. It is the mechanism that allows ideas to be tested, adapted and owned by the people who need to act on them. Without that, behaviour change is unlikely to stick.

Where ESG fits – and where organisations can go wrong

Increasingly, we are asked how working with us supports Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. There is a clear alignment. ESG frameworks focus on sustainability, social impact and responsible governance. From a practical perspective, working with a community‑focused organisation like ours can help companies:

• demonstrate meaningful community engagement, which sits at the heart of the ‘S’ in ESG
• build evidence of real‑world impact, rather than relying on internal metrics alone
• strengthen partnerships that support long‑term social value and trust

There is also a commercial reality. Organisations with strong ESG performance are more likely to attract funding and partnerships, as stakeholders increasingly assess behaviour, not just outputs. However, there is also a risk here. ESG can become performative if it focuses on reporting rather than substance. Community engagement, in particular, is often reduced to consultation exercises that generate data but not change. Our role is to challenge that.

We work with partners to ensure that engagement leads to insight, that insight informs decisions and those decisions create measurable impact in communities. That is what ESG should look like in practice.

Why organisations choose to work with us

The organisations we work with – whether public, voluntary or commercial – tend to have one thing in common. They recognise that local context matters. They value:

• independent, objective insight
• deep understanding of rural communities
• the ability to translate engagement into evidence and action
• a collaborative approach that builds capacity, not dependency

That last point is important. Good consultancy should leave organisations stronger than when they started. It should build confidence, capability and relationships that persist beyond the life of a project. That is what we aim to do.

A final reflection

It is easy to underestimate the complexity of working in and with rural communities. Small populations, dispersed geography and limited resources create challenges that standard approaches often fail to account for. But these communities also have strong networks, local knowledge and a willingness to act when the conditions are right. Our consultancy sits at that intersection – helping organisations understand those dynamics and work with them effectively.

If you are planning a project, shaping a strategy or looking to create meaningful impact locally, we can help you do it in a way that is grounded, collaborative and fit for purpose. Please do get in touch if you’d like to discuss how we can help you.