£315m shortfall for rural businesses over 7 years

ANALYSIS from a leading countryside group has revealed that rural businesses are set to lose out on hundreds of millions under revised funding plans unveiled in the Budget.

Experts at the Country Land & Business Association (CLA), which represents 28,000 rural businesses, farmers and land managers across England and Wales, have found that spending plans under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will lead to a shortfall of £315 million for rural businesses over a sevenyear period.

The decision, it says, calls into, question the Government’s commitment to closing the productivity gap and “levelling up” the countryside where many areas are already held back by regional inequalities.

The figure represents the discrepancy in government funding assigned to tackling regional economic disparities through the EU’s Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), versus what will be received under the UKSPF to bolster rural productivity.

CLA president Mark Bridgeman, pictured left, said: “Plans under the UKSPF make a mockery of the Government’s promise to level up.”

The new plans signal a marked shift from previous EU investment models, where rural areas benefitted from a ringfenced fund every year. However, closer inspection of the 2021/ 2022 Budget Red Book shows that there will be no dedicated funding in the UKSPF for rural businesses.

This is because the ESIF rural fund had already been allocated for 2020/2021. Rural businesses will be unable to access the grant for the next three years. The funding has traditionally helped to fund 40% of the capital expenditure for farm diverstification.