I have only just felt calm enough to post in depth about this as the announcement coincided with the new governments decision to abolish the Commission for Rural Communities set up in 2005 in order to
"help ensure that policies, programmes and decisions take proper account of the circumstances of rural communities' with 'a particular focus on disadvantaged people and areas suffering from economic under-performance.'

On July 2nd when notice was given the Telegraph reported

"Its death notice, like Eleanor Rigby's, passed virtually unnoticed, achieving just one sentence in a single national newspaper. And yet this week's abolition of the little-known Commission for Rural Communities by the new Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, is likely to make a big difference to some of the poorest, most deserving people in the country.

Think about poverty in Britain, and the mind jumps to grim inner-city estates. But deprivation can be just as great amid some of the loveliest landscapes. About one in five rural families live beneath the poverty line, a rate increasing three times as fast as in the cities.

The commission's job was to tackle this. It could, perhaps, have done so more dynamically – and it could have sold itself better – but it did make a difference, partly because, as the government's designated Rural Advocate, its chairman had direct access to the prime minister.
It produced regular State of the Countryside reports – the last, as it happens, comes out next week – keeping a focus on rural poverty. And it persuaded the last government to stump up £180 million to maintain village post offices and enable them to provide banking services, and to propose a 50p tax on all phone bills to finance rural broadband.

Now a coalition of two parties that traditionally represented the countryside is betraying it. First to go was the broadband tax, scrapped in George Osborne's Budget. And now
Ms Spelman has killed off the commission, centralising some of its work within her Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"

The countryside will be the poorer


Numerous reports have highlighted that much of rural England experiences problems of access to AFFORDABLE hOUSING.
House prices have been driven up by the influx of the affluent.
The already low level of provision of council housing in rural areas has been diminished by high levels of Right to Buy sales

This is reflected in the village where I live - the recent trend has been for cheaper older cottages to be bought up when their elderly owner dies and subsequently demolished allowing the building of a much larger home usually with electronic gates.

Affordable rural housing is identified as an important issue for the generational stability of rural communities

In June 2003 Prince Charles launched the Affordable Rural Housing Initiative with the aim of engaging the private sector encouraging businesses – including landowners, property owners, housebuilders, developers and lenders – to explore opportunities to deliver affordable housing. to rural communities .
Alas there is little if any profit to be made from social housing and most initiatives have come from housing associations

"A number of rural housing providers have expressed disappointment that the initiative has not achieved more, particularly given the prince's backing.
One, who did not want to be named, said: "Since launching his initiative, the prince has not done anything to ease the rural housing crisis.
"Instead, he has stolen the limelight from existing landowners and housing associations that are already managing to develop rural housing in small communities where it is needed. He has overlooked their hard work."

Two directors were appointed to run the initiative: Libby Sanbrook and Emily Trevorrow. They used £250,000 to compile two guide books that will explain the options available to landowners and businesses on how to get involved with helping provide social housing.

Source Housing today quoted in Building.co.uk


In June 2009, the responsibility for taking ARHI forward was handed over from Business in the Community to The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment

Where social housing does exist tenants in smaller settlements may be unable to travel long distances to work by PUBLIC TRANSPORT as the cost may be so great that it significantly reduces their income or the level of public transport provision may make it impossible to travel to other areas to find work or access essential public services.

The population is not large enough to support all services that are needed, for example hospitals. This necessitates a need to travel to access services. People on low incomes often experience difficulties in accessing services in rural areas.
Rural CABx often report that their clients get into debt due to the costs of running a car.
Alternatively they are dependent on poor and expensive public transport.

Of course the main land use in rural areas, agriculture must be supported

HOWEVER, THEY ARE MINORITY EMPLOYERS WITHIN RURAL COMMUNITIES AND ANY PLANNING POLICY MUST LOOK AT SUPPORTING OTHER INDUSTRIES AND EMPLOYERS

As a country woman I make no apologies for highlighting the problems of rural areas
This is not to dismiss or diminish the very real plight of old mining, textile towns etc, the inner city or large 'sink' estates
These too, like The Leveller said, need 'a co-ordinated government initiative' not 'a couple of aspirins'.