Home working could be key to North Yorkshire’s future – The Yorkshire Post says

Full marks, therefore, to North Yorkshire’s rural commissioners who are already making sure that their work, and deliberations, reflect the pandemic’s economic and social impact on the county’s communities.

The fact that they were still able to hold a virtual e-meeting suggests that the broadband is robust in many areas – the challenge is to increase, and improve, connectivity in the more remote blackspot areas.

Yet, as leading landowner and Food Standards Agency chair Heather Hancock pointed out, this new era of home working – one which is likely to remain for the foreseeable future – presents an opportunity to promote this area as the place to live and work.

“We also have a huge offer to families looking for a new way of life outside of the big cities and employers nationally who can see that a remote workforce can still be just as effective and productive,” she said.

At a time when so many sectors of the national economy – tourism being a prime example – do not appear to have a recovery plan ready to activate as soon as the Government is in a position to begin lifting the lockdown, and are so uncertain of the next steps, it will reassure many that North Yorkshire is trying to move ahead.

This is important. For, while Covid-19 is now a public health tragedy like no other, it is also a growing social – and economic – catastrophe by the day and a bunker mentality will offer little hope for the future.

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