Recently published report on rural issues including spending inequalities in the UK.
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“In this inquiry we set out to assess how successful Defra and its Rural Communities Policy Unit have been at championing rural issues across Government to achieve the RCPU’s target of “fair, practical and affordable outcomes for rural residents, businesses and communities”. The RCPU faces a difficult task if it is to meet this ambition. Too often Government policy has failed to take account of the challenges that exist in providing services to a rural population that is often sparsely distributed and lacks access to basic infrastructure.
Rural communities pay higher council tax bills per dwelling, receive less government grant and have access to fewer public services than their urban counterparts. The Government needs to recognise that the current system of calculating the local government finance settlement is unfair to rural areas in comparison with their urban counterparts and take action to reduce the disparity. This ‘rural penalty’ is not limited to public services, it is also acute in many areas of infrastructure, not least the provision of high-quality broadband. Businesses, schools and households in rural areas have fallen behind urban areas when it comes to broadband access. Through the Rural Broadband Programme the Government is taking steps to improve rural communities’ access to broadband. The focus of the Programme must be on improving access to those communities with no or slow broadband rather than increasing the speed for those who already enjoy an adequate service.
The Government has made growing the rural economy its top priority. To achieve this a number of barriers need to be overcome not least improving rural businesses’ access to finance. The Government must ensure that initiatives that offer financial support to the business sector such as the forthcoming Business Bank and the Single Local Growth Fund are as available to rural businesses as they are to their urban counterparts.
Lack of affordable housing can be a brake on economic development. On average people working in rural areas earn less than those working in urban areas but rural homes are more expensive than urban ones. Rural England desperately needs more affordable housing yet the Government’s housing policies pay insufficient regard to the needs of rural communities. Failure to provide more of the right housing, at the right price and in the right place will exacerbate the existing problems of unaffordability and inequality in some parts of Rural England.
Rural communities should not be seen as helpless victims whose woes can only be solved by others. Some of the most valuable initiatives to rural communities have started within communities themselves rather than as a response to government policy. The Government is devolving more powers to communities to enable them to have greater influence over their future. We support these moves and believe many rural communities are well placed to respond but the Government must also ensure that those communities that may lack the confidence and capacity to help themselves are provided with the support to do so.”
