Ensuring sustainable rural communities in England

Citation

Cameron, E. (2004), "Ensuring sustainable rural communities in England", European Business Review, Vol. 16 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2004.05416aab.002

Ensuring sustainable rural communities in England

Ewen CameronCountryside Agency in England, Cheltenham, UK

Abstract Since the romantic era, there has been a tendency in urbanised Europe to think of the countryside as at once idyllic and static, a repository of tradition. Charged with presenting and implementing rural policy in England, this article challenges this prevailing urban sentimentality. The author is forthright about the problems the countryside faces in adapting to regional and global changes. However, he also paints a picture of an increasingly dynamic and diverse rural sector with considerable economic potential, as well as human and cultural interest. The conclusions have relevance to other European rural economies, with which rural England increasingly interacts.

Keywords: Rural areas, Rural economies, England

Introduction

Over the last few years the English countryside has had to cope with a series of crises. Foot and mouth disease in 2001 not only had a devastating effect on farming but it also hit hard many other businesses for whom the countryside is their very life blood, such as tourism.

Following hot on the heels of foot and mouth, there was September 11, which kept many overseas visitors away, and then of course, many rural communities were seriously affected by flooding and a fuel crisis. British farmers have also had to cope with the combination of a strong pound and a period of low world prices, which has put most of them through a worrying period of negligible or negative profitability.

Rural areas are under pressure like never before. Yet in spite of all of these challenges, rural England has managed to stay firmly on its feet and is in fact positively thriving in many areas. The following article highlights the importance of the rural economy in England as well as the many initiatives that are currently running across the country to improve rural communities, not only for the people who live there, but also for those who visit the countryside.

The importance of the rural economy

Contrary to what many people might think, the rural economy, or to be more accurate the rural economies, in England are not some marginal contributor to our national economy. They are in fact central to it. For example, there are more businesses per head of population in rural areas than in urban areas and over a third of England’s businesses registered for VAT are located in rural areas. This is not a bad track record when you consider that only 23 per cent of the population live there.

There are about one million enterprises in rural England and interestingly there are more self-employed people in rural areas than in urban areas – 11 per cent of the workforce compared to 8.5 per cent, although in the relatively deprived county of Cornwall the self-employed constitute some 28 per cent of the economically active population.

Rural workplaces, such as shops, factories, offices and home-based businesses employ 5.2 million employees. Alongside the head offices of some very large companies, such as Clarks, Group 4, Bulmers and Dysons, there are thousands of small sole traders and very small firms. Many provide the health, education and shopping services needed by rural communities.

In terms of what people do, it may come as a surprise that over 80 per cent of rural employees and a similar percentage of businesses are involved in manufacturing, financial services, public services and the hotel and retail sector. Only some 4 per cent of rural workers are involved in agriculture.

It is crucial for both the countryside and the country as a whole that rural economies prosper and grow. This is because they contribute significantly to the health of UK plc but also because growth in rural economies is the best way of helping to tackle unemployment and other forms of disadvantage among the 14 million or so people living in rural areas. Prosperous businesses are also vital for conserving, maintaining and enhancing the fabric of rural areas in their villages, market towns and in the open countryside. Having access to a non-agricultural wage is also often the only method of survival for the smaller farming family, on whom much of our landscape management depends.

Boosting rural prosperity

The question is, how do we ensure that this prosperity continues in rural areas? The answer is quite complex and success depends upon a number of factors. Like pieces of a jigsaw they all have to fit together in order to create the whole picture.

Perhaps the most important issue that needs to be tackled is housing. It’s no secret that house prices in rural areas have risen enormously over the last few years, as more and more people move into the countryside. The big challenge here is to provide decent housing at a price people can afford. Without affordable housing for local people, rural communities and their local economies won’t function properly and won’t grow and develop.

The Countryside Agency (www.countryside.gov.uk) has been helping to tackle this problem by part-funding rural housing enablers in order to identify promising sites and make things happen.

Another key priority is maintaining essential rural services, such as village shops, post offices, pubs and local transport. Again, rising prosperity is, unfortunately, pushing us in the opposite direction as increased mobility encourages shopping in neighbourhood towns and cuts in local public transport.

A Countryside Agency initiative has been set up to empower local communities to tackle these problems for themselves. The Vital Villages demonstration programme is designed to achieve active, empowered and inclusive communities. The starting point is a belief that rural communities should be able to grip their own future, and where possible, to plan for and meet their own needs. They should have reasonable access to local services and should have the opportunity to develop and grow, as well as provide jobs and homes to meet local needs. They should also have an active and participative parish council along with other systems of local governance, serving all members of the community.

Grants provided by the Countryside Agency are designed to encourage communities to meet those ambitions – by helping communities to help themselves. Examples of projects that have been funded include social centres, village shop improvements, childcare facilities and innovative local transport solutions. The Countryside Agency is also working with the National Association of Local Councils to deliver training to parish council clerks, and members, in order to improve the quality of local governance.

A vibrant, sustainable countryside needs new jobs while minimising commuting distances. We should be seeking high-tech, high-value enterprises that can draw on local populations for their workforce, as well as those that can make effective use of information technology.

Talking of information technology, the provision of broadband in rural areas could be the most important economic investment for the countryside that any government could make. Currently only 7 per cent of villages have access to broadband compared to 95 per cent of urban areas. When it comes to the use of broadband by businesses, 17 per cent of urban businesses use broadband, compared to just 6 per cent of rural businesses. Clearly rural businesses are at a serious competitive disadvantage. There is also a real danger that lack of access could prevent businesses from moving to rural areas, or indeed that they could rule out locating to an area that doesn’t have broadband.

In order to help tackle this problem, the Countryside Agency has commissioned a report called “Broadband in rural areas – a best practice guide”. This aims to show communities how they can access broadband in areas unlikely to get broadband through their phone line in the near future, if at all.

Countryside capital

Just 4 per cent of the rural workforce is employed in agriculture, yet it remains the primary means of managing 76 per cent of the countryside. Farming is therefore still absolutely crucial to its success, not least because the fabric of the countryside, with its distinctive landscapes, historic features, biodiversity and the built environment is essentially the product of, and ongoing driver of, economic activity.

Known as Countryside Capital, the Countryside Agency’s aim is to secure more jobs and economic opportunities, which draw from and exploit this and also help to enhance it.

Countryside Capital clearly underpins rural recreation and tourism. This was forcibly demonstrated by foot and mouth disease when visitors stayed away. The countryside attracts visitors spending £14 billion per annum and supports 380,000 jobs. In 2000, around 25,000 businesses hosted over 80 million visits and overnight stays from domestic and international visitors. A quality environment is crucial to the success of tourism, as visitors are becoming ever more discerning.

A high quality rural environment provides much of the attraction of the rural areas for in-migrants and for relocating firms. Almost two thirds of all new businesses in the countryside are started by incomers, which means that every community, however small, needs its own small local workspace. It also means that we have to keep our countryside attractive in order to keep drawing in these new businesses.

This Countryside Capital can also supply us with key services. Our uplands are important water catchment areas and a resource for wind energy. Lowland farmland can be used as washlands and to grow non-food crops and crops for energy. Our forests and woodlands provide timber, recreation and absorb carbon dioxide.

It can also provide a distinct advantage to farmers. This is what the Countryside Agency’s “Eat the view” programme is all about, promoting a market for products, which come from forms of land management, which protect or enhance an area’s distinctive landscape and strengthen the sense of place of the area in which they are produced. Such products are often sold locally through farmers’ markets, farm shops and in market towns, further benefiting local economies.

The future of farming

Although it’s a tough climate for farmers, there are still good opportunities out there to be grasped. For many landowners, the production of food as a commodity is only one part of a wider business. There are many different options available. With effective coverage of broadband in rural England, a whole host of businesses can thrive in the countryside.

However, the main commercial opportunity is always likely to be leisure. Anything from quiet enjoyment, through organised cycling, fishing, riding and field sports to one-off ventures such as concerts or sporting events. There is of course stewardship of the land through contracts for delivering public benefits through agri-environment schemes – very definitely a contract and not a subsidy.

Farmers have to give up the drug of subsidy and realise that they have to earn their public money, while the public have to understand that their countryside – their ideal habitats, don’t just happen. Like their gardens, they take a lot of hard work.

Conclusion

In tomorrow’s countryside the economy will be more broadly based than it is today. The traditional businesses of farming, forestry and minerals extraction will still have an important place among a broad range of rural business activity. Information and communication technology will help overcome the disadvantage of remoteness. Improving access to education and training and encouraging leisure activities will help underpin a broader economic base and support more vibrant communities.

The labour force in the countryside will be equipped with marketable skills, meeting the needs of business keen to operate in a good environment. Firms will increasingly see a rural location as a positive advantage and there will be a growing understanding of the ways in which successful businesses and an attractive, diverse countryside can be mutually supportive.

In short, there is much we can be optimistic about in rural England.