Country life ‘hit by absence of transport links’

The chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), Stuart Burgess, admitted transport was a key issue in all parts of rural Britain but stressed that, in his opinion, it was a particular concern in Yorkshire.

He also voiced worries that Britain’s rural economy has been continually under-rated in terms of the value it adds to the Treasury.

Mr Burgess, who was visiting the Great Yorkshire Show yesterday, told the Yorkshire Post: “If you go up into the Yorkshire Dales and some of those more remote areas there is either very little or no rural transport.

“There are no easy answers to this problem. There are some very good community schemes but huge changes are needed if we are to get this right. The idea of the Big Society is very fashionable now, but this practice has been going on in rural areas for some time.

“The problem would come in how you translate this from a situation where people do it voluntarily to how they would do it as paid employment.”

Mr Burgess applauded so-called Wheels to Work schemes which operate in many rural areas, but maintained that there is still work to be done.

“If there are to be more cuts, then local people in these areas will continue to rely on each other. Partnerships in localised areas can work, it is a very difficult problem.”

The CRC, a quango, was set up by the previous government to examine the range of issues effecting rural areas and to report regularly to the Prime Minister. The commission was granted an extra period in operation by David Cameron during the cutbacks on quangos, although its future remains very much up in the air.

Mr Burgess said that he considered affordable housing and rural broadband to still be the most significant issues facing the countryside. And he admitted that the rural economy is continuing to be under-appreciated.

“It is not just about single issues. We can talk about a lot of positive things in the rural canon. Be it carbon storage, water sequestration – there are a lot of areas where work can be done.

“I am very supportive of the Defra team, and it is very nice to see these rural issues now being discussed in Parliament.

“The rural economy is still under-estimated from the point of view that there is a perception that the economy will only grow if we place a lot of emphasis on manufacturing in urban areas and get urban businesses back on their feet.

“I am saying that we need that economic upturn around the rural economy as well. The rural economy contributes £250bn to the national economy. This is no small amount. To grow small businesses you need seed money, not mega-sized investment.”

Mr Burgess said the 20th century growth in the economy was largely based around the improvements in the nation’s road networks and that 21st century growth would be based around strong internet, broadband and mobile phone networks, an area in which Britain’s countryside runs the risk of becoming a poor relation due to years of public and private-sector under investment.

He added: “There are again a lot of good infrastructure in local areas. One such project has transformed the life of a large community in rural Cumbria. Teenagers need the internet for school.

“Again, just small amounts of seed money is what is needed to get localised projects off the ground.”

Mr Burgess, who lived for a period in Yorkshire, has been coming to the Great Yorkshire Show every year for some time and said he considers it to be the best in the country, praising its heavy emphasis on agriculture.