Rural Wales Localities Survey

The Rural Wales Localities Survey is an independent study of four ‘deep rural’ communities in Wales including Aberdaron, Clydau, and Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa and Llangamarch.

The survey will cover the following themes:

• Your community, opportunities and challenges of living rurally
• Service provision and community resilience
• Wellbeing and community cohesion 
• Employment and education
• Culture, Welsh language and bilingualism
• Housing 
• Cost and standard of living

The survey repeats questions from the 2008/9 Deep Rural Localities Survey by the Wales Rural Observatory.

It will compare data against the previous survey and collect new data relevant to today’s issues.

You can complete the survey either online, by using a paper copy, or in-person with one of our researchers who will be distributing the survey and collecting responses door-to-door in your community. 

There may be researchers from your community involved in the door-to-door survey.

If you complete the survey on the door, you may ask the researchers to skip over a question or request a copy of the survey to complete privately in your own time. You may ask to continue without the community researcher present if knowing the person prevents you from answering some questions fully.

When the researchers call on your household, if you have already completed the survey online, you are welcome to say that to the team when they visit. You will not be expected to complete a survey more than once. 

Your response to the survey will be very much valued; however, you are not obliged to complete the survey. Your response will be voluntary.

The survey is available in Welsh and English and should be completed by one person from each household who is aged 18 or over.

The survey is being undertaken independently by Cymru Wledig Local Policy and Planning Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Rural Wales. It is being led by Professor Michael Woods.

Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales is a partnership of universities, social enterprises, businesses, and policy partners who have come together to explore how research and innovation can help to find solutions to the challenges facing communities in rural Wales. It is funded by UK Research and Innovation.

You can find out more about Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales on our website at www.lpip.cymru.

The four communities have been selected to enable us to compare results from the 2008 survey. These are communities that are:

• at least 30 minutes’ drive from somewhere with a population of 10,000 or more
• comprising fewer than 500 households
• with fewer than 5 of 12 key services, such as a school, food shop, or GP’s surgery.

Questions have been selected from the previous study. Some questions are added to bring the research up to date. These are based on other research projects recently and currently being undertaken by Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales.

Some questions have been designed following public meetings held at the four communities between March and May, which invited residents to raise issues and questions that could be covered by the survey. The research method and recruitment process has been reviewed and approved by Aberystwyth University’s Ethics Board  [Reference number: 31548Ha].

Your involvement in the survey will contribute to research that will be used by Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales and other stakeholders in advocating for future proofing your community.

We will share anonymized findings with local authorities, community councils, local organisations, and the Welsh Government. This will include a summary of community needs, such as what and why access to certain services, places, and their cultures need protection. We will share recommendations for practical or policy relevant improvements.

The research report will be available on the Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales website www.lpip.cymru by December 2026.

We will publish an anonymized open data set on the Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales online Data Hub. This will support local organisations to access data that can be used in forming future projects and grant applications. No personal data will be collected.

The legal basis for the collection of data by Aberystwyth University is provided by Article 89(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the legal basis for the retention and processing of data is additionally as a ‘task in the public interest’ under GDPR. You retain all rights provided by the applicable data protection legislation.

Further information about the Aberystwyth Data Protection policy is available here: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/about-us/corporate-information/information-governance/data-protection/

If you have any questions about the survey or the visit, please contact lpip@aber.ac.uk in the first instance and your query will be passed to the research team who are happy to assist.

Should you wish to raise a complaint at any point about the research, you may get in touch at lpip@aber.ac.uk and we will respond to you. If you feel that your concerns are not addressed, please contact ethics@aber.ac.uk.  

You may leave the research up until the 30^th September 2026 by emailing lpip@aber.ac.uk and citing your household address if you’ve completed a paper-based copy or on the door, and requesting to leave the localities survey. If you submitted an online response, please provide your unique response ID given on completion of the survey with correspondence.