Rural regress

The same applies to those officials who want to cut countryside funding in addition to compelling the national parks, like the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, to operate on much reduced budgets.

These decision-makers actually need to leave their Whitehall bunker and visit those areas, like the rolling hills of Yorkshire, that will be adversely affected by funding reductions.

One of the reasons that the rural economy continues to prosper is because the countryside is an attractive place to visit thanks to the collective endeavours of landowners, farmers and others. Indeed, the Higher Level Stewardship scheme, the latest funding stream to come under scrutiny, has been proven to provide a considerable financial return to the Exchequer.

It is for this reason that Ministers need to take heed of the concerns of groups like the RSPB. Reducing these payments may appease those trying to balance the Government's books – but, in doing so, they could cause lasting damage to the countryside, and, therefore, the rural economy's continuing prosperity.

It is a mistake that the Government cannot afford to make. And it probably wouldn't if Ministers, and their advisers, had a greater understanding of life in the provinces, and the countryside for that matter.