MARK TUFNELL

President of the Country Land and Business Association

THOSE living out in Britain’s countryside face unique challenges.

Rural jobs tend to pay less than urban ones, yet rural housing tends to be more costly.

Getting around means a much higher fuel expenditure – and for those who live off the electricity grid, the only way of heating our draughty homes is by using heating oil, which recently tripled in cost.

Fuel poverty has always been acute in the countryside. Statistics from the Government show that, even before the current cost-ofliving crisis, an estimated 500,000 people in rural areas lived in fuel poverty.That number will be far, far higher now.

Meanwhile, farming businesses have taken a serious hit as fertiliser prices recently hit an all-time high of £1,000 per ton, four times last season’s price.

The significantly higher cost of red diesel and the relative scarcity of labour, particularly for seasonal jobs, mean that the business of feeding the nation is becoming almost intolerably expensive.

The economics of farming is increasingly unpredictable and to make ends meet many have been steadily diversifying their businesses. It often comes as a surprise to people when they learn that 85 per cent of rural businesses are not engaged in farming or forestry.

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They could be in anything from tea rooms, holiday cottages and wedding venues to high-end manufacturing and cutting-edge science firms.Whatever they are, they provide jobs in areas so often blighted by underemployment.

But the significant obstacles rural businesses already contend with – unreliable internet, an outdated planning regime and poor skills training – are now being exacerbated by the cost of living.

It would be foolish to say the answers are simply, but it’s essential the Government explores how it can bolster the rural economy.

We need to buy British and, where possible, buy local. But we also need to show some ambition for the rural economy as a whole.

No government has really ever had a plan to create jobs and build prosperity in the countryside.

Indeed, it was largely absent from the recent Levelling UpWhite Paper. But those living in the countryside don’t just want to survive, they want to thrive.

We need to identify the barriers to success in the rural economy and remove them one by one. Perhaps it’s time rural Britain had aWhite Paper all of its own.