The report, conducted by Oxford University and published by the Department of Communities and Local Government, has followed warnings from Stuart Burgess, the Government's "rural advocate", that poorer residents in rural communities were suffering even more disadvantage through the gradual reduction and removal of essential services in their towns and villages.

Since the Countryside Alliance's launch, in 1998, we have actively campaigned to protect rural communities, and everything that makes them such glorious places in which to work and live.

However, the "chocolate box" image that is sold to accompany tales of comfortable village life often hides what Mr Burgess referred to as the "forgotten city of disadvantage"; the reality that rural residents are already suffering with housing shortages within their local area, and now face the widespread loss of key amenities.

The report investigated which areas of the country have suffered the greatest losses, and examined which services were being reduced. It found that 45 per cent of communities in England – 14,493 – have become more "geographically deprived" since the last report was conducted, in 2004.

While rural areas suffered the worst deprivation in services by far, the recent sweeping closures of post offices meant that some urban areas failed to escape the problem of social exclusion.

In light of the rolling post office closures, the statistics are set to become even worse, as some communities currently using their services will face imminent loss as more closures are announced in coming months.

The Government seems determined to ignore the will of local people, and is only interested in measuring the worth of services in terms of their immediate financial viability. Twenty Ministers have committed their support to keeping open their local threatened post offices, yet planned closures for thousands of services continue regardless.

The report also found that village shops were under threat, because of their reliance on the post office network for business. It is clear that financial viability alone is not a good enough indicator of a post office's worth. Survival of the local village shop aside, post offices are the social heart of many communities, and without them, thousands of people, including many elderly and disabled, would be increasingly isolated.

They are a place for friends to meet, and for some, they are the only point of contact local residents have with others on a regular basis. The Government fails each and every one of these people with every closure it pushes through.

Rural GPs services were also highlighted as under threat following the Government's promotion of "polyclinics" – combined services in one centre where patients will be able to access a wider range of benefits, but will undoubtedly have to travel further for the privilege. Rural NHS dentistry services do not fare much better with only 67 per cent of rural households being within 2.5 miles of an NHS dentist.

Village pubs hit the headlines recently when it was announced that four were going out of business in Britain every day, and one in every 13 rural primary schools has been closed since Labour came to power, with warnings that even more will shut across the country.

Financial services are also a problem in the countryside. According to Mr Burgess's findings, 233,000 people reside within a "financial services desert" where there is no post office or bank within 1.25 miles, nor a building society or cash point within 2.5 miles.

Unfortunately, the Government has effectively turned its back on the issue of rural deprivation and access to services. Time and time again, the levels of deprivation have been highlighted, and every time the warnings are ignored, including the most recent from Mr Burgess.

No-one should be penalised for living in rural Britain, nor forced to live without the most basic and essential of services within a reasonable distance, a distance that must take into account that many elderly residents within rural communities are unable to drive and can no longer rely on sparse public transport. Yet the Government appears committed to exacerbating rural poverty.

The heart of many rural communities is under threat, and many, including the Countryside Alliance, believes it is high time the Government was forced to sit up and listen to the long-ignored voices of the countryside, and finally halt the spiralling decline of rural life.


Simon Hart is chief executive of the Countryside Alliance.