Signs of decline

Huw Morris, Planning, 14 March 2008

Stuart Burgess spent much of last year travelling up and down the countryside listening to hundreds of people talk about what matters to them. For the government's rural advocate and chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), the messages he heard were both alarming and inspiring.

Burgess's ensuing report on the realities of rural life in England (Planning, 7 March, p4) gives a snapshot of a countryside in crisis. Most of all, it offers a wake-up call for a government that many claim is overlooking rural issues. "Rural life can offer great advantages and I have seen many examples of real community spirit and creative solutions to problems," says Burgess. "But I have also witnessed real hardship."

For a government that promotes social justice as a key principle, Burgess's headline finding is a stark indictment. Almost one million people live in poverty in the countryside, with a knock-on effect on rural services and affordable homes. "This is equivalent to a city the size of Birmingham," says Burgess. "Because these people are dispersed throughout rural England they tend to form a forgotten city of disadvantage."

Communities experience all-round decline

The consequences for the vitality of rural communities are dire. As Burgess acknowledges, young people are leaving, trade in local shops is falling, businesses are struggling to recruit and school attendances are declining, as are the numbers of volunteers for community activities. Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and regular bouts of flooding have also given the rural economy a pasting in recent years.

Coinciding with this woeful litany, a coalition of 250 organisations last week called for action to support rural England. The Rural Services Network, which includes more than 80 rural local authorities and 150 other groups, says that despite a government commitment to "rural-proof" policies, the needs of the countryside are all too often tacked on as an afterthought.

The network blames the planning system for discriminating against rural communities. "Local planners are hidebound by guiding principles such as the percentage of development that must be delivered on brownfield land, restricting development to locations serviced by public transport and the exclusive focus on growth centres," it complains. "Most rural centres, including market towns, are denied the opportunity to respond to changing circumstances."

The network is particularly outraged by the government's post office closures programme. It says the 8,037 post offices in rural areas serve around 12 million customers a week, with 84 per cent of people in rural areas living within a mile of a post office. More than two-thirds of villages with between 500 and 1,000 inhabitants have a post office and the branches offer convenient access to a range of services, it argues.

It urges the DCLG to lead a fundamental review of how planners and inspectors apply the test of sustainability in rural areas and calls for mandatory targets to boost affordable rural homes. The government should consider tax and development control incentives to provide an appropriate mix of housing in new schemes, it argues, while councils and regional authorities should take a more proactive role in bringing forward sites.

While communities recognise the importance of growth, they are wary about backing housing developments without assurances that they will benefit local people. But they will rally around schemes where such assurances are given, Burgess notes. He cites the example of Great Massingham in Norfolk, where residents unanimously supported a parish council initiative to provide 12 two and three-bedroom affordable homes to buy and rent. The parish is now developing a second scheme in the village.

Burgess is pleased that the government has reintroduced targets for new affordable housing in rural areas. But feedback from the local communities suggests that delivery is being impeded by allocations and policies in regional spatial strategies. He wants the DCLG to ensure that its targets are properly reflected.

He is particularly disappointed by ministers' intention to cut capital gains tax (CGT) on the sale of second homes. He advises the Treasury to rethink this and wants the DCLG to encourage local authorities to create a separate fund for council tax revenue raised from these properties for reinvestment in the community.

Action plan seeks brake on second homes

Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives Andrew George is deeply concerned about the impact of second homes on his constituents in west Cornwall. George met prime minister Gordon Brown last week to present a three-point action plan. First, he is calling for a home impact charge that would give local authorities powers to levy a one-off payment on second homes to raise funds to help meet local needs.

Secondly, like Burgess, he wants to see the proposed CGT reduction on second homes scrapped. Local people needing affordable accommodation in remote rural areas will be further disadvantaged if the wealthy are given an even greater tax incentive to buy second homes, he warns. If anything, he would like to see CGT raised.

Finally, George proposes a planning use class for non-permanent occupancy. The number of second homes could be constrained by local authorities if they had the power to decide whether or not permanent accommodation could be converted to such use, he reasons. Under his proposals, these uses could be identified through the electoral register, council tax and CGT records and even holiday home adverts.

"My most recent survey of estate agents shows that five times as many homes are being sold to second home buyers as to first-time buyers," George reports. "In some parts of my constituency, agents told me that 60 per cent of properties are being sold to second home purchasers and none to local first-timers."

Clearly, rural communities are in a hurry to see initiatives that translate the political will into action on the ground. Judging by recent events, all the signs are that they should not hold their breath. Affordable rural housing as an issue has been an exercise in how Whitehall kicks a touchy subject into the long grass.

Back in July 2005, the government launched the Affordable Rural Housing Commission, with a brief to improve access to homes in the countryside. It reported its findings in May 2006. Yet by November last year, the CRC was complaining of the slow progress in implementing the commission's recommendations, particularly at regional level.

Last December, Brown asked another West Country Liberal Democrat MP Matthew Taylor to launch yet another review of the rural economy and affordable housing. Following inaccurate media speculation, Taylor has been at pains to stress that "it is very early days and absolutely no conclusions have been reached". He is scheduled to report in July - three years after the government first started looking at the issue.

- The Report of the Rural Advocate 2007 and Rural Services Network Sustaining Rural Communities - A Call for Action are both available from PlanningResource.co.uk/doc

THE FACTS

928,000 - Rural households living below the official poverty threshold of £16,492 a year.

600,000 - Number of people living in remote rural areas.

75,000 - Net inward migration to rural areas in 2004-05.

200% - Increase in the number of migrant workers in rural areas over the past four years, more than three times the growth rate for urban areas.

20% - Proportion of England's population living in rural areas.

15% - Proportion of people aged 15 to 24 in rural areas.

8.1:1 - Ratio of house prices to median income in rural areas, against 6.8:1 in urban areas.

Source: Report of the Rural Advocate 2007

AN AGEING POPULATION

The countryside is facing huge demographic changes. The search for work or study opportunities means that 400,000 fewer young people aged 15 to 29 live in rural areas than 20 years ago.

On average, residents of the countryside are more than five years older than their urban counterparts and the average age is increasing by three months every year. Between 2001 and 2004 the median age increased from 42.2 to 43.6, against 36.9 to 38 years in urban areas.

In areas such as East Devon the figure is even higher, with a median age of 62.9 years. The age imbalance undermines the viability of certain services, particularly schools, while also putting strain on social and medical care.

POST OFFICE CLOSURES

The government's decision to allow payment of benefit and pensions straight into claimants' bank accounts has removed a substantial number of post office customers. Last May, the government announced that 2,500 post offices, a fifth of those left in the UK, will close by next year.

At the time, trade secretary Alistair Darling pointed out that post offices had lost four million customers a week over the previous two years, leading to losses of £4 million a week. According to official figures, the 800 smallest rural post offices are used by fewer than 16 people a week, which works out at a cost of £17 per visit.