Local Government Finance (Rural Authorities)

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Neil Parish]

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point, because one of the arguments is about how we define what a rural authority is. Under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs definition some rural authorities are 80% rural and some are 50% rural, whereas the DCLG has one overall view: it has added everybody together and called them rural authorities. That is one of the problems we are facing.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the timing of this debate, as most councils are setting their council tax at the moment. Does he agree that it costs more to deliver public services in rural areas, because of the increasing cost of fuel in those areas?

[Neil Parish]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and there should be rural weighting. We are talking not only about the distances between villages and hamlets, but the distances between schools and the number of small schools in rural areas that are the heart of the village. If the local schools were to be destroyed, the village itself could be destroyed, so there is an awful lot to play for here.