Rural jobs at risk

14 November 1997

Rural jobs at risk

SUPPORT for schemes to create jobs in the countryside will be jeopardised if government goes ahead with its plans to set up a network of regional development agencies, claims Rural Development Commission chairman, Lord Shuttleworth.

And he says the long-term viability of the RDC will be put in serious doubt if it loses its £22m rural regeneration fund.

Speaking at the launch of the RDCs annual report, Lord Shuttleworth said he was concerned that the regional development agencies, expected to be endorsed in a White Paper later this month, would be dominated by urban issues.