THE Prince of Wales this week launched a major initiative to encourage businesses to 'think rural'.

As president of Business in the Community he challenged businesses to play a full part in the economic and social regeneration of the country's rural communities.

The new campaign — 'Business in the Community — Rural Action' — is a call to action for all businesses to use their skills and resources to help revive the countryside and reinvigorate the rural economy.

The Prince said the 'nightmare' of foot and mouth was still not over and was having a devastating impact on the farming community . But he said the problems went much wider than that, with village shops and post offices closing, market towns in 'desperate decline' and a lack of affordable housing.

He outlined his vision for regenerating countryside communities to an audience of 200 top business people at St James's Palace. In encouraging companies to do their bit for the countryside he said the future of rural Britain was 'one of the most crucial issues of our time'.

Business in the Community — which counts 70 per cent of the FTSE 100 companies among its members — is asking companies to complete a 'rural impact assessment'. This is aimed at identifying how their firm is linked to rural areas in terms of staff, customers and business practice.

The companies will then be asked to look at ways in which they can help in the regeneration of rural communities and revive their economic fortunes.

The Rural Action programme has three main themes: strengthening market towns, local sourcing of food and goods and building enterprising rural communities.

Prince Charles said that while market towns were once the 'engines of rural life' they had recently acquired many of the problems of inner cities 'such as crime, drugs and vandalism'.

He said businesses could help by sharing their business skills to assist towns to market themselves and pilot their own regeneration.

The Prince said there was a 'remarkable' pool of entrepreneurial talent within rural communities which just needed a little support and advice to take off.

He is also keen to promote the role of the village pub as the 'hub' of the local community. He said he believed pubs should be encouraged to diversify and take on services such as the village shop and post office.

Companies interested in getting involved with the Rural Action initiative can fine out more by contacting Business in the Community on 0117 923 8750.