FAMILIES may be moving to the countryside in pursuit of a better quality of life, but it doesn't now mean that their dream of a rural idyll will be realised.
The Commission for Rural Communities report reveals a familiar picture of communities losing shops, low wages and threats to the agricultural industry. It also identifies new problems such as a disproportionate number of households suffering fuel pov
erty.
In that context, the suggestion that working families are swapping urban areas for rural locations might be considered the lifeline
that the countryside desperately needs. However, this trend could prove to be a mixed blessing.
The presence of these families means new pupils for small schools under threat of closure, and invaluable income for local services.
Equally, though, their arrival could also put further pressures on housing and turn more villages into dormitories for commuters.
Britain's countryside is resilient, as the growth in new rural businesses demonstrates, but it will not prosper until it is valued far more than as a tourist destination and also the place where food is grown.
That is the simplistic view held in official circles, which leads to damaging policy, particularly the closure of post offices. It is also the reason why the warnings in the Commission's report are unlikely to be heeded by a government that is so out of touch with the needs of rural communities.
