Western Daily Press (Saturday)
‘Rural funding should be more than just for farms’
RURAL affairs should no longer be left behind on the political agenda say two West Country MPs who believe wise investment into the countryside could unlock huge potential for the regions.
Rebecca Pow, the Conservative MP for Taunton, and Shadow Farming Minister David Drew, the Stroud MP, put party politics aside to speak at a conference where rural community leaders called for a new Government strategy on their areas.
The one-day event at Taunton Conference Centre was opened by Baron Cameron of Dillington, Ewen Cameron, who criticised Defra for concentrating too much on agriculture and the environment rather than the wider rural economy.
In a shot aimed at the department which brought smirks across the room, Lord Cameron, co-chair of the All-party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development, said: “Defra is now deaf.”
The conference was organised by the Rural Services Network and featured dozens of people from the likes of the Wildlife Trust, Rural England, West of England Rural Network and Rural Coalition.
In a published brochure for attendees, the network set out the problems facing rural communities such as the lack of infrastructure, poor transport and poverty before discussions took place on building a case study for a rural strategy.
Ms Pow, who served on the Government’s environment, food and rural affairs committee from 2015 to 2017, said the balance of funding needed to change, claiming people in rural areas got £123 less funding per person than urban areas.
There was potential in the South West to double productivity, she said.
She said: “We need a better rural strategy across departments. Every department has to look at rural issues but it is not just quite on the agenda enough yet.”
With the impending withdrawal from the EU, Mr Drew said now was an opportune time to raise the importance of rural affairs and ensure continued funding lost from EU sources.
He said it was key the Government came up with new ideas to secure the future of rural services such as transport and shops.
He said: “People have rights in rural areas; people shouldn’t expect to have to have a poorer standard of living because they live in rural area.
“That is something we need to think clearly about, whether that is health or education or transport, we have got to come up with innovative schemes.
“We need to give Government a template it can work forward on. If we don’t get this right we will have missed an opportunity and things will only get worse.”
Lord Cameron’s opening speech set the scene for rural communities.
He said 23 per cent of the rural population were aged over 65, compared to 16 per cent of the urban population, but funding for public health services in Devon was 40 per cent lower than the national average.
And he said communities were suffering from poor broadband and mobile network coverage as well as fewer business opportunities, claiming Defra had taken its eye off the ball.
He bemoaned the fact the department had dropped its Rural Communities Policy Unit.
He said: “It [Defra] is over-concentrating on agriculture and the environment, which of course is going to be a huge agenda post Brexit.
“But it needs to understand that over 95 per cent of the rural population is not involved in agriculture and it is the wider rural economy that matters and needs Government focus.”
He added: “Defra needs to reestablish itself as a leader in rural affairs.”
A report based on yesterday’s workshop will be published in the coming weeks.