Debate on 7 October 2010: The Prince’s Countryside Fund and support for rural communities

This Note aims to provide background reading for the debate to be held on 7 October 2010:

“To call attention to the launch of the Prince’s Countryside Fund, and to the case for continuing support for rural communities” This Note examines the launch of the Prince‘s Countryside Fund by the Prince of Wales which aims to provide funding and support for rural communities, and the challenges faced by those communities in many key areas such as access to services, affordable housing, communications and internet provision, and in developing a sustainable rural economy. James Tobin 5 October 2010 LLN 2010/021

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1. The Prince’s Countryside Fund On 22 July 2010 the Prince of Wales, launched the ‗Prince‘s Countryside Fund‘, an initiative aimed at supporting and strengthening agriculture and rural communities in Britain. The Fund has the following core objectives:

To improve the sustainability of British farming and rural communities, targeting the areas of greatest need;

To reconnect consumers with countryside issues; and

To support farming and rural crisis charities through a dedicated emergency funding stream.1

In order to achieve these goals the Fund aims to bring together company investors and encourage them to donate funds and support to small-scale rural projects with ―a track record of success in supporting British farming and the rural economy‖. Those companies who donate will be able to use the Prince‘s Countryside Fund Logo on their products as recognition of their participation. Among those companies who have already provided support are prominent food retailers such as Waitrose, Marks and Spencers, McDonalds and Asda, who together have contributed to a £1 million start up fund. Decisions as to how contributions to the Fund are spent are taken by an independent board of trustees, chaired by Mark Price, the Managing Director of Waitrose, and also Chair of the Prince‘s Rural Action Team since 2009. More information on the funding policy and eligibility criteria employed by the board to make those decisions can be found on the Prince‘s Countryside Fund website: http://dev.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/. In a statement introducing the Fund and its rationale, the Prince of Wales said it was his belief that the countryside is ―a treasure under real threat‖, and among the key issues faced by rural communities he highlighted the closure of rural pubs and services, historically low wages amongst many farmers, particularly in uphill areas, and a 26 per cent decline in the number of farmers and farm workers over the past twenty years. The Prince explained that the Fund aims to help address these issues, principally by directing funding and support to community-led rural initiatives:

I know from my travels around the country that there is a multitude of remarkable organisations and individuals working tirelessly to keep farmers farming and our rural communities alive... whether they are supporting farmers in need, helping maintain rural skills, carrying out vital conservation and restoration work, keeping the pubs and shops open that are so important in binding a community together, or helping to reconnect people to the land and where the food comes from, they are all helping to sustain its future. ... [I]t is these organisations and individuals that my Countryside Fund will support.2

Also speaking at the launch of the Fund, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Caroline Spelman, declared the Government‘s support for the initiative, adding:

Our farmers work around the clock in all seasons and steward many of our most precious landscapes—75% of our land in England is under agri-environmental

1 Prince‘s Countryside Fund Website: http:www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/.

2 Statement by HRH the Prince of Wales, Prince‘s Countryside Fund Website.

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schemes—yet total income from farming actually fell by nearly 7% last year. It‘s payback time. Time for business, government and philanthropic organisations such as the Countryside Fund to help our farming sector remain resilient and grow their markets in the difficult economic times ahead. It is vital that we develop the green jobs that our new green economy needs to thrive. That‘s why I particularly welcome this Fund‘s focus on helping farmers find market solutions to sustainability and growth—and the sizeable investment from so many businesses shows their belief in our farmers‘ unique selling points of quality, animal welfare and the benefits of locally produced food. Rural communities are at the start of a renaissance in the recognition of their intrinsic economic and environmental value. We must make sure that at every stage they have the infrastructure they need to make the most of the unique opportunities available to them.3

The Prince of Wales and the Government are not alone in recognising both the value of rural communities, but also in voicing concern over the problems and difficulties that many face and the need to support them as they seek to grow and thrive in potentially challenging times. The Commission for Rural Communities, a quasi-governmental organisation established in 2005 by the previous Government to act as a voice for rural communities, and a range of campaigning groups such as Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), the National Housing Federation (NHF), the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), have all warned recently that rural communities are facing a range of challenges which may act to restrict their future viability and prosperity. A number of these issues are explored below. 2. Agriculture and the Rural Economy Agriculture and farming is undeniably critical to rural communities. Farming utilises three quarters of the land area in the UK, employs around half a million people and contributed approximately £7.2 billion to the UK economy in 2009.4 Agriculture in the UK 2009, the most recent edition of the annual survey of the agricultural sector by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, reveals that ‗Total Income from Farming‘ is estimated to have fallen from 2008–9 to 2009–10 by 6.7 per cent in current prices, or 6.2 per cent in real terms, to £4.07 billion.5 However, this dip was preceded by a period of growth in farming income from 2005, and the National Farmers Union point out that agriculture was actually one of the few strong sectors as the economy headed towards recession. They also highlight that despite the decrease in total farm incomes in 2009, the level, even after a period of tighter global supply of several agricultural commodities and subsequent price spikes, remains more than double the low point of a decade ago.6

3 Speech by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Caroline

Spelman, ‗Starting the Rural Renaissance‘, St James Palace (22 July 2010). 4 Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Agriculture in the UK 2009 (18 March

2010), page 11. 5 Ibid, page 12.

6 National Farmers Union, The Recovery: Why Farming Matters (2010), page 3.

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The National Farmers Union report The Recovery: Why Farming Matters adds:

The strong performance of agriculture throughout the recession highlighted the long-term investment prospects of agriculture as capable of generating stable returns; a timely reminder that farming is good business and good for business. While the solid performance of agriculture has been good news for the whole economy, it has been particularly critical to rural areas. The rural economy turns over £300bn each year, employs 5.5 million people and has farming at its centre.7

The resilience of the agriculture sector does potentially obscure some of the problems faced by farmers however, particularly in more remote areas. As the Commission for Rural Communities points out for example, many hill farms are currently operating on the margins of financial viability, with low or even negative returns on labour and capital, and a significant dependency on the Single Farm Payment.8 Concern has also been raised that farming will suffer from a lack of migrant labour as difficult economic conditions continue, with sourcing seasonal migrant labour a particular concern.9 Government projections published in November 2009 also indicate that farm income is likely to fall again in 2010, with a reduction in agricultural output being only partly offset by a decline in input costs and a rise in payments, coupled with a fall in the volume of labour input.10 Yet, despite its importance, the rural economy is far more than just agriculture. In 2008, the Centre for Rural Economy reported to the Select Committee for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that some 80 per cent of employment in rural districts in England was in four key sectors: distribution and retailing; business and financial services; public administration, education, training and health; and manufacturing.11 Similarly a statistical release from the Scottish Executive also from 2008 reveals that only 16 per cent of the employment in ‗remote‘ rural communities in Scotland is located in agriculture, fishing and forestry, in comparison with 21 per cent in the public sector.12 In Wales too the Wales Rural Observatory reported in October 2009 that 5.9 per cent of employment in ‗rural‘ Wales was in agriculture, fishing, hunting and forestry, compared with 28.9 per cent in the public sector and 23.6 per cent for wholesale and retail trade, and hospitality.13 This trend is further illustrated in the following comparative breakdown of share of employment by broad industry group between urban and rural areas, provided by the Commission for Rural Communities for England in 2009:

7 Ibid, page 5.

8 Commission for Rural Communities, High Ground, High Potential—a future for England’s upland

communities (2009), page 8. 9 Local Government Association, The Impact of the recession on migrant labour (2009), page 4.

10 Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Agriculture in the UK 2009 (18 March

2010), page 11. 11

House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, The Potential of England’s Rural Economy (Eleventh Report of Session 2007–08), page 7. 12

Scottish Government, Rural Scotland Key Facts 2008 (2009), page 35. 13

Wales Royal Observatory, The impacts of the current recession in rural Wales (2009), page 24.

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The Rural Challenge, a report from the Rural Coalition, six organisations concerned about rural communities in England including Action with Communities in England (ACRE) and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), also highlights the importance of the rural economy. Not only does it provide millions of jobs and is home to hundreds of thousands of businesses across the UK, but in England alone the rural economy is worth more than £145,000 million to the national economy every year.14 The Rural Challenge points out too that rural areas are also more entrepreneurial and generate higher levels of business creation per head than many urban areas, and the

14

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 12. The Rural Coalition, chaired by Lord Taylor of Goss More, was brought together by the Commission for Rural Communities in 2008, and comprises Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the Local Government Group (LG Group), the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), and the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA).

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survival rate amongst new businesses is also high. Indeed, according to many indicators when taken together the economic performance of rural communities is in fact directly comparable to that of urban areas.15 However, such overall figures conceal considerable disadvantages faced by many in the rural economy. In many rural areas average incomes for example (for those who actually work in that area, rather than commute or work elsewhere) are £1,674 a year lower than the urban average.16 In addition in the most rural areas 28 per cent of jobs are low paid, compared with 18 per cent in the most urban areas, and 22 per cent of self-employed people in rural areas are in poverty compared with 8 per cent in urban areas.17 The Commission for Rural Communities also reported in February 2010 that in the period following the credit crunch and during the subsequent recession, rural residents have experienced more difficult job markets, with greater and more diverse job losses and fewer vacancies than during rurally distinct crises in recent years such as Foot and Mouth disease.18 Redundancy profiles also differed between rural and urban areas in the post credit crunch economy, with higher rural redundancy in construction, retail, hospitality and the public sector, whilst higher urban rates have been demonstrated in finance and manufacturing.19 However, a more recent report from the Commission for Rural Communities in July 2010 does suggest that as the economy has moved out of recession the numbers of redundancies have fallen and the outlook for rural communities is improving, concluding:

From all the evidence we have considered, there is a clear message: for most rural areas economic recovery is underway. We can see this from falling numbers of Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants; increased numbers of rural authorities with more claimants leaving than registering for JSA; rising levels of business confidence; and also new enterprise start-up rates.20

In making this assertion the Commission also draws upon the fact that Defra‘s Rural Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) reports show rising business activity amongst private firms in rural areas, in addition to apparent signs of recovery in larger firms in rural areas, and an increased rate of new business formation and rise in applications in new rural business accounts.21 The Commission for Rural Communities does recognise that there is also some evidence of fragility in post-recession recovery in the rural economy however. Youth unemployment in rural areas rose significantly in the second half of 2009, and over the period observed amongst people over 50 the rate of increase in unemployment was almost three times larger in rural, rather than in urban, areas.22 Skills shortages and gaps were also cited as a problem in some areas, alongside poor investment in training and a lack of awareness of the types of skill needed by employers. Also, given the high levels of public sector employment in rural areas highlighted above, the forthcoming

15

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 12. 16

Ibid, page 19. 17

Ibid, page 19. 18

Commission for Rural Communities, From Credit Crunch to Recovery: The Impact of the Recession in England’s Rural Communities (February 2010), page 4. 19

Ibid, page 5. 20

Commission for Rural Communities, Growth Sectors in Rural England: Perspectives on Planning for Growth by Rural Businesses, Authorities and Organisations (July 2010), page 1. 21

Ibid, page 4. Rural PMI reports examine the current state of order books, output and employment of rural firms, based on purchasing managers‘ intentions. 22

Ibid, page 2.

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Comprehensive Spending Review and subsequent reductions in Government spending may have a significant impact on those communities.23 The Secretary of State recognised this point herself as she pledged new funding for rural areas at the launch of the Prince‘s Countryside Fund:

My own department‘s Rural Development Programme for England will bring up to £4 billion of funding to rural communities—to encourage agri-environmental and other land management schemes and help make our agriculture and forestry more competitive. But, as we all know, money is tight and will only get tighter. It is vital that we develop the green jobs that our new green economy needs to thrive.24

Indeed the Commission for Rural Communities, established in 2005 to advise Government and act on behalf of rural areas, has been one of the first casualties of this spending reduction. The Secretary of State announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 29 June 2010 that the Commission would be abolished, and that key elements of rural advocacy would move back within the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

I have decided accordingly to abolish the Commission for Rural Communities as an independent body... The Government believe policy advice should be carried out by Departments, not arm‘s-length bodies. DEFRA will, therefore, reinforce its capacity to undertake rural work within the Department: a strengthened Rural Communities Policy Unit will work across Government to ensure that the interests of rural communities are fully reflected in policies and programmes.25

Despite these issues and the potential impact of public spending cuts, however, the Rural Coalition argues that there remains much potential for future growth in the rural economy. They point not only to a history of entrepreneurship and diversification, with innovative new business ideas being developed in many rural communities from small cottage industries to specialist businesses, but they also suggest that the rural economy may in fact be in a better position to take advantage of future growth areas. In particular they point to the potential of the low carbon economy as a future driver of economic growth in rural communities:

There are massive opportunities for the UK to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to tackling global climate change in the countryside. Currently rural dwellers find themselves having more carbon-intensive lifestyles than their urban dwelling counterparts. On the other hand, a strong tradition of self-help, community action and business entrepreneurship provides a unique rural advantage in tackling climate change. A growing number of villages and rural towns are at the leading edge of engaging the whole community in low-carbon activity, focusing on sustaining livelihoods and community spirit over the long-term.26

23

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 12. 24

Statement by the Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Affairs, Caroline Spelman, 22 July 2010. It is worth noting here that rural affairs are a devolved matter, and thus the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has responsibility for England, but that responsibility lies with the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Northern Irish Executive for their respective nations. 25

HC Hansard, 29 June 2010, cols 37–6WS. 26

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 19.

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Many rural communities face a number of barriers which may act to impair this growth however. They include the difficulties associated with accessing key services in remote and sparsely populated areas, implementing effective communications and internet links, and ensuring that businesses have the appropriate premises available to them and workers have suitable housing, as explored in more detail below. 3. Housing and Planning Living in the countryside is a popular decision for many; indeed some 92,000 people migrated from urban to rural areas in England in 2008 alone, and rural communities in England today are home to some 9.8 million people.27 This is a trend echoed in Scotland, where the population of ‗accessible rural areas‘ has increased by 10.1 per cent between 2001 and 2008 and 5.3 per cent in remote rural areas, compared with an increase of 0.7 per cent across the rest of Scotland.28 In Wales too, in the period 1991 to 2006 the population of Welsh rural authorities grew by 6 per cent compared to the national average of 3 per cent.29 The consequence of this migration however, in combination with wider economic factors, has been a substantial rise in rural house prices. A recent release from the National Housing Federation (NHF) suggests that the average house price in rural England has in fact more than doubled in the last decade, standing now at £256,698.30 However, as the NHF points out, at the same time the average salary in rural areas is only £21,000, ―meaning that the vast majority of people have virtually no hope of being able to afford a home in their local area‖.31 The lack of affordable housing is highlighted too by the Rural Coalition, who suggest that a number of factors—from a decline in social housing stock because Right to Buy sales have not been replaced, to the slow pace of new rural non-market affordable house building—have combined to leave rural communities facing a particularly severe housing crisis. In England alone only 13 per cent of houses (including Housing Association stock) in rural areas are affordable homes, compared with 21 per cent in urban areas.32 As a result, the NHF highlights that the number of people currently on waiting lists for affordable homes in rural areas in England stands at approximately 750,000.33 This has key implications for the rural economy, if those who would be able to contribute and work in rural industries and businesses are not able to find homes in which to live. This issue is acknowledged by the chair of the Local Government Association‘s Rural Commission, Cllr Andrew Bowles, who highlights the impact of a lack of affordable housing on other services in rural areas:

The proportion of affordable homes in rural areas is little more than half that in urban communities. If young families and low-income households are not able to access housing in villages, services like schools, buses and Post Offices become even less viable. Councils have long been calling for greater autonomy and

27

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 19; Commission for Rural Communities, State of the Countryside 2010 (2010), page 16. 28

Scottish Government, Scotland Key Facts 2010 (2010), page 5. 29

Welsh Assembly Government, A Statistical Focus on Rural Wales: 2008 Edition (2009), page 6. 30

National Housing Federation press release, ‗Farmers fear being priced out of the countryside by shortage of affordable homes‘ (12 July 2010), page 1. 31

Ibid, page 1. 32

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 11. 33

National Housing Federation press release, 12 July 2010.

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freedom to manage the finances of their own housing. This will free them up to meet the unique needs and aspirations of the areas and people they are elected to represent.34

The Rural Coalition argues that a historic resistance amongst many villages and rural communities to new housing projects and developments has been a key contributory factor to the lack of the affordable homes, possibly partly in response to previously ill-thought out developments as well as a desire to protect the countryside and the existing character of local communities. This is echoed in a separate policy positioning paper by ACRE, which also suggests that inappropriate use of planning constraints by local planning authorities, coupled with the reluctance of some communities to embrace the need for more building development, is impairing the sustainability of some rural communities.35 In business too, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) highlight the lack of suitable premises for many firms to move into, and argues that existing planning regulations and reticence on the part of some local authorities to accommodate development have restricted opportunities for business growth. The FSB has called for more diversification in the use of existing buildings so that they can accommodate burgeoning businesses, and for local authorities to recognise in assessing planning applications the importance of new types of business to a vibrant rural economy alongside more traditional routes like farming and agriculture.36 However, the Rural Coalition believes that attitudes to development among many rural communities are changing. In particular the Coalition points out that more communities are adopting a positive attitude to local housing for ‗those with a local connection‘. The Coalition suggests that more landowners are willing to come forward, and communities are more responsive, when affordable housing is planned to be kept in perpetuity for local needs and that its design will be ‗sympathetic to local character‘.37 The Coalition suggests too that in order to strike a balance between the needs of individuals, business and the countryside, a community-led focus on development and planning is vital, and preferably placed in the hands of local democratically elected decision makers like parish councils, and through local housing trusts, so that community members feel connected to the planning process.38 The importance of ‗community-led‘ initiatives is also echoed at a national policy level. The election of the Coalition Government has seen a substantial shift in housing priorities, with the new Government making it clear that they will not follow the route of the previous administration in setting national housing targets which must be met, and prioritising instead a community-led approach where local communities, businesses and the third sector would join together to instigate housing development in rural areas. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs outlined the Government‘s vision when she spoke at the launch of the Prince‘s Countryside Fund:

This Government isn‘t about top-down solutions to local problems—local communities know their own needs best and have plenty of ideas about how best to meet them.

34

http:www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=13129089. 35

Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), Policy Positioning Paper: Housing (2009), page 1. 36

Federation of Small Businesses, Keep Trade Local: A New Approach to the Rural Economy (July 2009), page 3. 37

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 10. 38

Ibid, page 12.

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That‘s why, when it comes to the important local decisions that will affect the quality of life in their local areas, we want to give them back control. Control over decisions about their local post offices, pubs and housing. Getting rid of meaningless and unachievable targets for house building in favour of local people, local charities and local businesses leading the way in providing the right housing in the right places at the right price.39

To this end, the Minister for Housing, Grant Shapps, recently announced a new initiative entitled Community Right to Build, which would be introduced through primary legislation to ‗enable local people to make decisions on how their area should grow‘. The DirectGov website explains that if such legislation is approved it would allow:

communities to take forward developments for new homes, shops and facilities in their area.

community organisations to go ahead with developments which have overwhelming community support, without the need for planning permission.40

Initially it was proposed as part of the scheme that new developments would be able to be built if 90 per cent of the community in a given area agreed. However, after concern was expressed from the Rural Coalition among others that this threshold was too high and would still enable those who opposed development to block it, Mr Shapps announced on 22 September 2010 that a new threshold of 75 per cent would be included in the legislation. This would, he argued:

[S]trike the right balance—enabling communities to bring forward the development they want while still ensuring that developments are supported by the overwhelming majority of the wider community.41

The Campaign for Rural England—a member of the Rural Coalition—has voiced fears however that, while the plan might work for very remote areas, there is potential for it to be abused in towns and cities. Paul Miner from the CPRE told the Daily Telegraph that in place of the plan for a referendum to approve development, elected parish councils should be the driving force behind small community-led plans to meet local needs. He emphasised the importance of the planning system to protect green belt land in particular:

It would be better for these things to go through the planning system rather than referendums. Around towns and cities in particular the planning system is crucial because you need to keep the green belt open.42

39

Speech by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Caroline Spelman, ‗Starting the Rural Reissance‘, St James Palace (22 July 2010): http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/2010/07/23/spelman-speech-rural-renaissance/. 40

DirectGov press release, ‗Choosing how to plan your community‘s future‘ (23 July 2010): http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_189548. 41

Daily Telegraph, ‗Nimbys overcome as villages get the right to build‘ (23 September 2010), page 17. 42

Ibid, page 17.

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4. Access to services in rural communities The difficulties in accessing and providing services to remote and less populated areas is also a key challenge for rural communities. Many rural areas often lack the very basic services enjoyed by their urban counterparts, and small towns also lack some of the basic infrastructure needed to provide services both to their residents and to those in the surrounding sparsely populated areas.43 The Rural Coalition argues too that even before the credit crunch and possible future limitations on public spending, there has already been a significant withdrawal of public and private services from rural areas. It highlights that the fastest closure rates are among the private sector, with around 400 to 500 rural shops closing each year, and village pubs too are closing at a particularly high rate. However rural public services are also under threat from reductions in public spending, with the possibility that service provision will become increasingly remote as smaller-scale—and more expensive per capita—service delivery is reduced in the name of rationalisation.44 The Coalition points out that not only are such local services of vital importance, both to individuals and businesses, generating local jobs and underpinning sustainable mixed communities, but it is also the most vulnerable who are hardest hit by their withdrawal. Alongside these potential cuts, however, changing demographics could also become an important factor. In particular the outward migration of younger people and inward migration of older people in many rural areas, which is clearly evident across the UK, mean that in the future services could be reduced at the same time that demand for them increases, particularly in regards to health and social care.45 Viable transport networks are also essential for rural communities, connecting homes, places of work and services which can often be significant distances apart. Consequently it is a key concern amongst rural residents, with 28 per cent of respondents of a recent survey placing it in the top four areas requiring action in their locality.46 The Rural Coalition argue that despite the significant investment made in rural public transport by the previous Government, in actuality this funding has had little effect. This is echoed in the Rural Advocate‘s report for 2010, with inadequate transport cited as a key barrier to rural economic growth and accessing healthcare services.47 The Advocate‘s report points out that while for those aged 11–16 in urban areas, 52 per cent of trips for social and sport are made as a car passenger, the figure for villages and hamlets is 70 per cent. For journeys on foot, the figures are 22 per cent for urban children, compared with just 7 per cent of children in villages and hamlets.48 Those without access to private transport are particularly disadvantaged, especially older or infirm members of the community who can often be reliant on family or friends to get around or to access other services.49

43

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 28. 44

Ibid, page 28. 45

Welsh Assembly Government, Rural Health Plan (2009) page 8; Commission for Rural Communities, State of the Countryside 2010, page 18. 46

Rural Insights Residents Survey 2009. Research Report, Commission for Rural Communities and Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute March 2010: http://ruralcommunities.gov.uk/2010/03/10/rural-insights-resident-survey-2009/. 47

Commission for Rural Communities, Rural Advocate’s Report 2010 (2010), page 12. 48

Ibid, page 14. 49

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 33.

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The problems associated with transport in rural areas were recognised by the Under Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Lord Henley, in the House of Lords on 15 July 2010:

Transport is regularly cited by people in rural areas as their single biggest concern. It is fundamental to so many other matters affecting people‘s lives in rural areas. We will be working with the Department for Transport to explore ways in which the best examples of local authority practice in terms of bus services and other transport provision can be replicated by others, and how the excellent examples of community-based transport schemes that are benefiting people in rural areas all over the country can be supported, promoted and emulated in other areas.50

Fuel poverty is also a particular problem in rural areas, with many homes without a mains gas connection and reliant on heating oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or solid fuel for their heating. The Rural Coalition highlights that 23 per cent of all households that have no mains gas connection are living in fuel poverty, compared with 12 per cent of all households that have a mains gas connection.51 This is reflected in figures provided by Poverty.org which illustrate that in England between 2005–07 an average of 27 per cent of households in the most rural or sparsely populated areas lived in fuel poverty, compared to 15 per cent in village centres, 11 per cent in rural residential areas and 10 per cent in urban areas.52 In Scotland this is even more pronounced, with 29 per cent of those in ‗remote rural areas‘ living in fuel poverty, and a further 21 per cent in ‗extreme‘ fuel poverty, according to the Scottish House Conditions Survey 2008.53 The Rural Coalition has noted the continuing importance of Universal Service Obligations in meeting the needs of rural communities. It also argues that a key element of the solution lies with moving away from national models of delivery and towards innovative local community solutions, integrated with public service provision. They argue that this will not only mean that better services which meet local needs are delivered, but they can be provided at less cost than trying to use urban service models in a rural setting.54 The Coalition points to existing evidence of these community-led initiatives providing viable solutions in many communities, such as volunteers arranging a bus service for elderly and infirm residents when the council-run service was discontinued for example, and the use of existing community centres and halls to provide a variety of services to local residents. The importance of local services is explicitly recognised by the Prince‘s Countryside Fund. A key aim of the fund is to support community ‗hubs‘ of the type described above where a range of services can be accessed in one place. Indeed, one of three funding projects already to receive funding as part of the scheme is the expansion of ‗Pub is the Hub‘ into Wales to identify opportunities where pubs might be able to be used as a place to provide facilities such as shops, post offices, older persons lunch clubs, community broadband hubs, prescription/parcel drop off and collection points or ‗one-stop shop‘ citizens advice and information centres.55

50

HL Hansard, 15 July 2010, cols 836–7. 51

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 21. 52

Poverty.org: http://www.poverty.org.uk/r80/index.shtml. 53

Scottish Government, Scotland Key Facts 2010 (2010) page 5. 54

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 30. 55

Prince‘s Countryside Fund Website: http://www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/about/about-bitc.

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5. Communications and Broadband Alongside difficulties in accessing services, lack of both broadband access and mobile phone coverage can be a critical problem for rural areas, restricting the growth of rural enterprises and isolating communities.56 The Commission for Rural Communities argues that the lack of mobile phone masts in rural areas, often as a result of the difficulty of getting planning permission, means that coverage is often patchy and leaves farmers and small businesses in particular at a disadvantage.57 The Campaign to Protect Rural England dispute the need for new masts however, recognising the issue but arguing that there are already 52,000 masts across the countryside and that measures to improve coverage should utilise existing masts.58 Broadband access is arguably even more critical, particularly for small rural businesses. Those businesses increasingly rely on ICT for a range of activities, from marketing to accessing business and trading, particularly when remote from markets and knowledge centres, and for the types of business often found in rural communities. The years between 1998 and 2005 saw significant growth of knowledge-intensive business services in rural areas, 46 per cent compared with 21 per cent in urban areas.59 However, these firms are often dependent on broadband connections which are slower and less reliable than in urban areas, arguably placing them at a potentially significant disadvantage.60 Indeed, as the Rural Advocate‘s Report 2010 pointed out, almost 60 per cent of urban areas are able to receive a cable-based broadband service; in villages and hamlets this drops to 1.5 per cent.61

56

Commission for Rural Communities, Rural Advocate’s Report 2010 (2010), page 23. 57

Daily Telegraph, ‗Mobile phone masts needed to boost economic development in the countryside‘ (7 September 2010), page 4. 58

Daily Telegraph, ‗Mobile phone masts needed to boost economic development in the countryside‘ (7 September 2010), page 4. 59

Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 26. 60

Commission for Rural Communities, Recovery and Growth in Rural England (July 2010), page 25. 61

Commission for Rural Communities, Rural Advocate’s Report 2010 (2010), page 12.

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The differences in broadband access across urban and rural areas is clearly demonstrated in the graph below of relative ADSL internet access speeds:

(Source: State of the Countryside Report 2010. Data from 2009, based on distance to telephone exchanges)

It is not just with regard to business that broadband services are important however. Households too, particularly young people, can also keenly feel the lack of broadband, meaning that they are unable to access the same services online as those in urban areas, and in the case of young people access social networking sites or use the internet for homework for example.62 The lack of reliable high speed internet access to homes and businesses in rural communities will also potentially become more of a problem when the next generation of broadband technology is introduced, with the Commission for Rural Communities warning that it could leave further areas ‗at risk of being left even further behind‘.63 The importance of broadband to rural areas has been explicitly recognised by the Coalition Government. Caroline Spelman said at the launch of the Prince‘s Countryside Fund that:

[R]olling out Superfast broadband is probably the single most important thing we can do to help our rural communities and businesses thrive and grow.64

62

Commission for Rural Communities, Rural Advocate’s Report 2010 (2010). 63

Commission for Rural Communities, Recovery and Growth in Rural England (July 2010), page 25. 64

Prince‘s Countryside Fund Website: http://www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/.

14

This was echoed by the Under-Secretary of State, Lord Henley, who said during the House of Lords debate on rural communities highlighted above:

We believe it is essential that rural communities and businesses not only get a basic level of broadband service as quickly as possible, but that they are given equal priority as the next generation of high-speed broadband is rolled out in the future.65

The Government has decided to abandon plans proposed by the previous Government for a broadband levy however, through which all the households in the UK with a fixed phone line would have paid a charge in order to create a fund to ensure that high speed broadband services could be rolled out across the country.66 Instead, the Government intends to encourage private investment in the next generation of broadband services. It has also deferred a deadline proposed by the previous Government for the universal implementation of a high speed broadband connection of at least 2Mbps from 2012 to 2015. These moves have drawn criticism from the former Minister for Communications, Lord Barnes, who told an online webforum:

[T]he proposed landline levy wasn‘t perfect, but was a targeted solution for a very specific need. That need isn‘t going to go away. The answer is going to need to be found at some time by somebody.67

Ofcom, the telephone services regulator, is currently carrying out a consultation on how to solve some of technical and commercial challenges of broadband access, and its forthcoming report will reportedly detail plans on how provision might be managed between new and existing service providers.68

65

HL Hansard, 15 July 2010, col 836. 66

BBC News, ‗Tax to pay for fast access‘ (16 June 2009); Rural Coalition, The Rural Challenge (2010), page 33. 67

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/broadband/360796/lord-carter-government-was-wrong-to-axe-broadband-tax. 68

Daily Telegraph, ‗Rural Broadband: Dongledanglers of the world must unite‘ (17 September 2010), page 3.