Rural Britain ‘let down for years’ says damning Lords report

In a damning indictment of years of urban-focused strategies, it demands a wholesale re-thinking of decision making and a system of “rural proofing” future schemes to protect the countryside.

The report, the biggest of its kind in recent years, also challenges the traditional definition of rural areas, by including the villages that make up the former coal mining region of the West Riding, and county towns that serve as “hubs” for surrounding villages.

Its chairman, the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Foster, said governments of all colours had underrated the contribution rural economies could make to the national economy.

His 10-month report, which is understood to have been welcomed by the Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, says Britain should now adopt a “rural strategy” to match its industrial policy.

He said: “Successive governments have applied policies which were largely devised for urban and suburban economies, and which are often inappropriate for rural England. This must change.

“With rural England at a point of major transition, a different approach is urgently needed.”

Lord Foster is also critical of the country’s local enterprise partnerships – the public-private bodies set up in 2011 by the coalition government – and says that in future they must have rural strategies of their own.

The report identifies housing, transport, skills shortages and inadequate IT infrastructure as the main challenges facing rural areas. It also demands new policies to address what it calls insufficient access to finance and the retreat of banks, healthcare, schools social services and shops.

“What we need above everything is a proper rural strategy,” said Lord Foster, who accused policymakers of paying lip service to rural communities by ignoring existing safeguards.

“Largely speaking, checking that rural areas don’t lose out is simply not done. It’s not transparent – there’s no accountability. If you don’t do it, nobody’s going to take you to task,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

He said there was little agreement in government circles as to what constituted a rural area, and called for a new system of openness that would force civil servants to consult with rural communities when new policies were being formulated.

“There has to be real accountability,” he said.

His report also takes a shot at Mr Gove’s department for prioritising agriculture and the environment over other aspects of the rural economy.