One in three people in rural Britain experienced poverty at some time in the early 1990s. It is the Labour Party, as the sworn enemy of poverty, who must deliver for families in rural Britain.
Take my own constituency, Falmouth and Camborne in Cornwall. Not all Cornwall’s problems are due to it being predominantly rural. Being at the very extremity of the south west peninsula does not help. Neither does the long-term decline of tin mining and fishing, or the centralisation of decision-making, at its most rife under the Tories.
But Cornwall does display some of the hallmarks of rural poverty. The average weekly wage is around £88 below the national average and persistent low pay has been a feature of the rural economy. The fall in farm incomes, where labourers’ wages were low anyway, has further affected the economy. Noticeably rural incomes are highly polarised and the disparity between male and female earnings is far greater in rural areas.
As I and many other Labour MPs representing rural seats have stressed, a big problem is the fact that rural poverty is often hidden. There are villages around where I live in Cornwall where one row of beautiful cottages adorned with roses and well-kept hedges hides another row which would make hardy veterans of the inner cities shudder. Having campaigned at elections in both inner cities and rural areas I have an insight into both. And I can say that I have seen worse poverty in rural Cornwall than in many of the more notorious parts of London.How we measure deprivation is a vital issue, both in increasing awareness of rural poverty and because it effects funding formulas.Standard Spending Assessments have long meant imbalances, often to the detriment of shire counties such as Cornwall, and a review is overdue.
Rural poverty leads to familiar problems as inevitably as night follows day. Health problems are no worse in rural areas per se and the environment is usually healthier, but it does have other particular problems. For instance, people in rural areas are less likely to visit doctors and dentists, a problem which NHS Direct can help to address. Young people, especially those without transport, are often almost completely isolated from social activity and leisure pursuits easier to come by in towns. Unfortunately, the youth service has often been vulnerable to local authority budget cuts in the past and this has compounded the problem. Another feature of rural communities is the low take-up of benefits.
Disparity is certainly an issue. In 1997 83 percent of rural parishes in England had no resident GP, 89 percent no independent pharmacy and 91 percent no dentist. There is also a more general lack of accessible advice and a greater inhibition about claiming support. So, in a sense, this is a cultural difference as well. Studies have shown that poverty in rural areas is often short term, but not knowing that a safety net exists to help through sickness or unemployment means people fall into a poverty trap quickly.
Tackling a poverty of information should be one of the key themes of future government policy. Others include resources, planning, the empowerment of local communities, and the need for policies to work in a broad context, working from several angles to provide services and ensure economic growth. Importantly, we must push beyond perceptions of the countryside as being exclusively farmland. Agriculture is an important issue but it is far from the being the only element in the rural economy.
Co-ordination of policy is vitally important. That is why developments such as the creation of the Countryside Agency and the ‘rural proofing’ announced in the Rural White Paper, are to be welcomed. I hope the restructured Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will also be a positive step. One outstanding challenge is an exact and successful incorporation of the Regional Development Agencies within these structures. The RDAs are an important innovation, particularly after the excessive centralisation I have alluded to. They can play a vital role in delivering rural renewal. But there must be no confusion about their role, and their relationship with departments and local authorities.
Continuing to look at this problem from the top down, and considering what government must do, reform of the Common Agricultural Policy remains critical to the future of agriculture in this country. At times this process feels like unravelling the gordian knot. But I do believe there will be progress, simply because there must be progress. Gradually political pressure will take effect as we establish alliances in Europe. Reform must be the short-, medium- and long-term challenge for ministers.
Reform of CAP, with its shift from subsidy to broader rural investment, touches on pivotal questions. It must be part of a wider debate about agricultural practices that will respect consumer demands on cost, quality and husbandry. I also want to see a far-reaching debate on our relationship with the land and how we develop the countryside. These are often the most controversial issues because some of those supposedly speaking for the countryside have confused objectives. They bemoan the decline of services and a threatened rural way of life but they reject innovation or change.
There must be a more imaginative attitude to development and planning in rural areas. Relaxing planning regulations on farm buildings for diversification is obvious and to be supported. I believe we should further explore planning law. Much open land in rural areas, particularly in somewhere like Cornwall with an industrial heritage, is not rolling green fields. Much needs clearing and cleaning up, and much could be put to serious use supporting small, clean industry. To give an example, several years ago I supported plans to build a Cornish cheese factory employing local people and developing a local brand. But the opposition to this small cottage industry development was vociferous. What is not understood is that historically prosperous and vibrant villages were always working villages, where sensible development was essential if the village’s lifeblood was to flow. Conservative protectionism makes for the short-term peace of some comfortable vested interests but will inevitably lead to the long-term decline of the wider community.
The question of affordable housing illustrates this issue perfectly. The issue is well-known in Cornwall, and the announcement in the Rural White Paper that the Housing Corporation’s rural programme would be expanded and local authorities could be given the power to end the pointless discount on second home council tax was widely welcomed. It is vital that this happens soon and the extra receipts are recycled back into affordable housing. In Cornwall just over 300 new affordable homes are needed a year to cater for the growing demand, and the term affordable must mean just that.
When there is dispute over additional housing the debate boils down to the interests of two groups, those who have settled down to a comfortable life in the rural idyll and those trying to start out in this environment. The latter group is often living on a low income and often young. Given the exodus of the young from rural areas the implications are obvious. I do not pretend there is an easy answer, or that it will not be controversial, but the challenge of matching the affect of the housing market with the continued vitality of rural communities may mean bold solutions. On the question of affordable housing more than any other the government is charged to deliver.
Rural communities demand good services, just like any other community. The recent debate about the post office network highlighted the decline of local services and how this particularly hurt the old, young, and the rural poor. It was clear that the successful sub-post offices had been those who had diversified and further innovation and great flexibility would be a necessity. Rate relief is a short-term measure and so too is the development of shops as one-stop advice centres and access points to technology.
But in the long term I do not think putting a washing machine in a pub will solve the whole problem. Neither, as it stands, will partnerships between village shops and supermarkets. Despite their protestations the net effect of a new supermarket will always be to threaten small businesses and jobs. Letting the village shop sell their products is no good if the shop must buy the goods at retail price, or anything close to it. As critics have pointed out, it just means the supermarket sells more products without having to open new shops. Ultimately it may be left to the consumer to vote with their feet, and their wallets, if they wish to keep the village shop and support local producers.
The broader dividends are clear. A recent survey in Cornwall found that £10 spent in a local organic farm generated almost twice as much income for the local economy as the same amount spent in the local supermarket. Communities themselves should look to develop schemes to support their local brands and businesses and engender a change in consumer habits. Similarly, communities can play a role finding solutions on other issues such as transport. The empowerment of parish councils and their involvement in drawing up local transport plans is welcome and they must not be frustrated by a lack of resources. On a larger scale improved transport infrastructure will allow the rural economy to prosper, prioritising decent links between market towns in particular.
Strategic planning and investment is vital because, ultimately, protecting rural services and communities depends upon the health of the rural economy. At the heart of this debate is the need to adapt traditional industries and foster new industries in rural areas. It depends upon specific measures such as making use of new technology and developing skills in the rural workforce so there is not a continual need to import these skills. There is a need to provide business support through pooled resources where individual business cannot raise the capital on their own. There is a need to help the rural entrepreneur through successful rural credit unions, attracting broad support from across the community.
Investment must also be targeted at developing the rural market town as the centre of economic activity and service provision and the driving force of the rural economy. This also means empowering town councils in the same fashion as parish councils. Their renewal would also reinvigorate communities and local democracy, which could only be a good thing.
Empowering councils is part of the wider debate on devolution to the English regions. The Rural White Paper offered much for rural areas, as the first blueprint of its kind for years. The expected white paper on devolution is also vital. If regional assemblies deliver improved infrastructure and strategic planning and local councils find their own solutions on the ground, then each can deliver for its constituency. But it must be done properly and be part of a broad debate about local government. If responsibilities are confused, or if the priorities are confused, then the process will not deliver for the country, rural or urban.
Ultimately we must develop a working, living countryside. We must combat misconceptions that the countryside is inhabited just by the wealthy and retired. We must not allow the voice of the countryside to be alliances of vested interests turning it into a mausoleum. The countryside must not be abused, but it must still be used and developed sensibly to provide jobs and opportunities. I want to see us adapt our landscape, to build the affordable housing, to develop industry and businesses, to change planning restrictions where necessary, to provide services to ensure a decent environment for people to live in.
It is for the government to make this case and deliver, and to argue the case for fighting rural poverty. Bold measures need not threaten our countryside or a rural way of life. But turning away from making these decisions could risk losing ‘life’ in the countryside altogether.