Help countryside meet potential, government told

More attention must be paid to ensure economic policies address rural needs, a government watchdog has warned.

The Commission for Rural Communities said the countryside was making a major contribution to the nation’s economic recovery. But the potential of the rural economy should be more fully realised, it added.

The planning system in particular should be used to support rural economic growth, according to an Agenda for Change, published by the commission on Tuesday (7 September).

Commission chairman Stuart Burgess said: “Following this government’s emergency budget, it is clearer than ever that helping the release of this potential must be a big part of the next stage of our national economic growth.”

The agenda calls on rural businesses and communities to be given the same opportunity to grow as businesses in urban and other areas. All too often, rural businesses found it difficult to obtain funds or overcome red tape, it warns.

“This needs to change,” says the document. “While annoyance at the ‘burdens of red tape and bureaucracy’ are heard from businesses everywhere, it is a particularly important issue for small rural businesses.”

The agenda calls for more explicit action to ensure that the characteristics and potential of rural communities and businesses are properly taken into account in the development and delivery of economic policies.

“Reforms in planning practices are required,” the document says. This should reduce any “unjustified inconsistencies” in way that proposed developments are treated in rural and urban areas.

DEFRA secretary Caroline Spelman said she was confident that the document contained useful insights and recommendations on ways to pursue and deliver further economic growth in rural areas.

She added: “I have asked the commission to discuss with relevant departments and other bodies how best [it] can support them in considering and, as appropriate, working with their proposals.”