I can wear my 8 year old DS's socks and almost his shoes, he can run and cycle further and faster than me and I have to ask him to wait for me at the next junction if we do either of those things together... he really is a big boy :o
On the other hand I still have to remind him to blow his nose, and I still brush his hair in the morning :o
He's DC2 of 3 so I guess it puts him in perspective :o
My kids have loads of freedom in a way as we are very rural - 8 year old is allowed to ride his bike to the next village 2 miles away with his friends from down the road for example (its all proper German separated from the road wide, tarmac, well maintained and well used cycle paths though and no roads to cross), I wave him goodbye from the doorstep and he trots off to school and I next see him when he comes home (at lunch time). When he gets to school he often pops to the village shop before going in to spend pocket money on chewing gum or a pretzel - all allowed.
On the other hand my oldest DC just started secondary school and went from a village school with 80 pupils to a secondary with 1100 pupils, 180 in her school year alone, and is quite overwhelmed some days and not as streetwise or used to crowds as some of her town dwelling new peers. So whilst its good to give them independence you can't always prepare them for everything - different locations make different types of self reliance easier to come by, and covering all bases is difficult! Its a good thinkg to think about though.
Could you stand outside a small local shop and let him go in and buy a couple of items (bread, a comic, a bottle of water, sweets?) and after that let him do the shopping in a small "Metro" type city supermarket, if you live near those, with you wandering separately and meeting him at or just after the tills - those would be independent things he could do if your area feels too "rough" to let him go anywhere properly alone. School trips are also perfect for building independence of course, and sleep overs if he has nice friends and wants to... invite and you might get a return invite...