Scrapping agencies 'could hit recovery prospects'

William Worsley, president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), said that businesses operating in the countryside would be worse off for the scrapping of RDAs, particularly citing the work that Yorkshire Forward had done for rural areas.

Mr Worsley was making his remarks at the start of the Great Yorkshire Show, where Government cutbacks formed much of the conversation matter around the showground.

To gauge public feeling, the CLA is conducting a straw poll at the show to see what people think should be cut from Defra, as the Department wrestles to slash more than 160m from its budget.

Mr Worsley, a Yorkshire landowner from Hovingham, North Yorkshire, said: "Yorkshire Forward has already been told it will be going, it was one of the best Regional Development Agencies and had a focus on rural issues as well as urban ones.

"And the calibre of individuals it attracted was very good.

"We are concerned about the regional focus will be lost with Local Enterprise Partnerships." Mr Worsley said he feared LEPs would be "too locally focused and could lead to the duplication of administration and added bureaucracy" and that a localised agenda on planning will put to much power in the hands of local people, creating what he called a "nimby's charter" that will result in affordable housing not being delivered to communities where it is needed the most.

"If we are going to get the rural economy really going then we need positive, pro-active planning," he said.

Countryside-based businessmen and women have also expressed concern that the role out of broadband in rural areas would be set back by the scrapping of Yorkshire Forward.

Mr Worsley cited recent research which showed that children who do not have internet access are likely to receive poorer marks then those who do and added that his organisation would continue lobbying Government for better action on the matter.

"Rural broadband is a service that everybody needs, in the same way that people need water and electricity," he said.

On the wider issue of cuts the CLA is polling visitors on their opinions on where they feel spending could be reduced, the results of which will be at the heart of their lobbying in Westminster.

Show visitors taking part in the CLA Straw Poll will be asked to choose between cutting or saving a range of Defra departments.

Dorothy Fairburn, the CLA's Yorkshire director, said: "The new Government has been in operation for over two months now, which is plenty of time for people to form an initial view.

"One message that has come across loud and clear is that budgetary cuts need to be made across the board and the CLA Straw Poll will be a unique opportunity for Yorkshire farmers and land managers to have their say as to where the cuts should be made."

Mr Worsley said that it would be very difficult decision but any cuts should be made with appropriate regard to risk.

He said: "The RPA is where we get most of the concerns from members than virtually anything else. The problem is that a lot of their technology is simply not fit for purpose and there needs to be a serious capital investment in order to sort these out."

It also emerged late yesterday that Tony Cooper, the chief executive of the Rural Payments Agency, is to quit his post at the end of month, citing person reasons for his departure.

GRIM WARNING ON COUNTRYSIDE CUTS

Conservation organisations have joined forces to paint a grim picture of a countryside starved of money by budget cuts.

On the 30th anniversary of the Wildlife and Countryside Link, its members have issued a warning that cutting rural programmes would be a "false" economy".

The organisation will share its concerns with MPs at a Parliamentary reception.

Chairman Paul de Zylva said: "We all know the new Government will have a hard job making difficult and far-reaching decisions about where the axe should fall.

"Ministers need to think very hard before making cuts that could have profound and perhaps irreversible consequences for England's wildlife, landscapes and people."