Country matters

MORE evidence of the likely cost of the lack of political interest in the countryside is laid bare in a new report which shows rural towns and villages undergoing faster population growth than urban Britain.

By The Newsroom

Published 5th Feb 2010, 19:58 BST

Updated 5th Feb 2010, 19:58 BST

According to the Commission for Rural Communities, the population of the countryside will increase by 35 per cent, compared with 27 per cent for towns and cities, between 2006 and 2031. However, unless urgent action is taken, this will put even more pressure on rural Britain's hard-pressed – or, in many cases, non-existent – public services.

As the CRC points out, however, this is an opportunity as well as a threat. Properly managed and prepared for, the predicted population

growth could be a chance to get to grips with the ills of the

countryside, to provide proper planning, transport and economic investment that will cater for the anticipated increase. But that, of course, would mean the Government, and countless other authorities, changing the habits of a lifetime.

Britain Government