Rural Areas: Public Services

Baroness Harris of Richmond Excerpts

Monday 9th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Harris of Richmond (LD)]

My Lords, I live in the beautiful county of North Yorkshire, in the famous and equally beautiful town of Richmond. It is not to be confused with its southern namesake, because my Richmond is the original Richmond of all the Richmonds in the world—currently 56 of them. Four Members of your Lordships’ House have taken this title in the past 20 years, each of us acknowledging our good fortune to live there. With a population of 8,413 at the last count, our nearest large town is Darlington, some 12 miles away as the crow flies. We are at the head of the Yorkshire Dales, with small hamlets and villages scattered over a huge area, where farming is the predominant industry, closely followed by tourism.

I declare an interest as a former councillor in Richmond for many years, and I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, on securing this important debate. We have known each other for many years.

Public services in my part of the world have been decimated since I first joined the county council in 1981 and are now in crisis. We hear much up north about the northern powerhouse, but any benefits accruing to this so far have been generally in the cities and urban areas of this region and have yet to percolate to those of us who live in the vast rural areas of North Yorkshire. Our local enterprise partnership, which is a pale shadow of the former Yorkshire Forward regional development agency, works hard to deliver the benefits through many projects in its strategic economic plan. I wish it well, but the deep rural areas in which our communities live need greater attention and commitment in order that they, too, may achieve their potential.

The Select Committee’s report in the Session 2017 to 2019, The Countryside at a Crossroads: Is the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 Still Fit for Purpose?, states:

“Each and every Government department should be seeking to take account of the circumstances facing rural communities when developing policies”—


as the noble Baroness said. It goes on to suggest that Defra, being the responsible government department for these matters, does not have the cross-government influence or capacity required to embed rural proofing more widely. Will the Minister comment on this? Are there any plans to introduce this essential work? Does he feel that Defra should be empowered to do so?

In considering our small rural schools—many of which have had to close, ensuring that children have longer journeys to travel—Rural England, in its State of Rural Services 2016 report, states that rural FE students face particular barriers with transport, with fewer than 40% of them able to get to a secondary school by public transport in reasonable travel time. They also have less choice of which school or college to attend. In North Yorkshire—disgracefully—parents are charged for transport for their children when they reach 16-plus.

Fuel costs are greater, and for North Yorkshire this is a major consideration as it takes well over two hours to drive from one end of our county to the other, and much longer in the summer months. This also means, of course, that there are hundreds of miles of roads that need upkeep, with potholes to fill and verges to clear. The county council’s network report shows huge variations in school transport costs, with North Yorkshire spending £207 per head, while Leeds spends £15 and Bradford £30. It goes on to state:

“On average, county councils received £650 per person for public services in 2017/18, such as adult social care, buses, libraries, bin collections, pothole repairs and children’s social services. In contrast, a city or Metropolitan borough resident, receives £825 for their services, whilst those who live in inner London enjoy £1,190 per person”.


It is grossly unfair that we receive £3.2 billion less than other parts of the country for services to which we have an equal right. We need a fairer funding settlement and so I ask the Minister: when are we likely to get this?

With health provision in rural areas—in particular where I live in Richmond—the key problem is access to services, and the frustration for the people who live there is the lack of democratic accountability. The main trust for our area is the James Cook University Trust in Middlesbrough, which is a good hour from where I live and much longer for dales people. Do not have a heart attack in Hawes. That trust has gradually run down one of our treasured hospitals—the Friarage in Northallerton. There is a veneer of apparent consultation, such as the current one over the potential closure of the accident and emergency unit there, but we all know what the outcome of the consultation will be.

The alternative for inhabitants of the two most northern dales is to travel to Darlington, where the emergency services are in constant fear of closure, or to the well-provided James Cook University Hospital. Behind many of the closure decisions is the mantra, “We can’t get the staff we need”. This particularly applies to anaesthetist posts. The professional body, the deanery, should address this problem.

Recruitment problems and the possible measures that could be taken are well discussed in the 2016 report Training in Smaller Places, commissioned by Health Education England. Is the Minister aware of this document? If so, does he support its recommendations? If the answer is that he is not aware of the document, will he ensure that his colleagues in the Department of Health read it? There is no reason why a training programme for all potential consultants should not include two years at a smaller hospital, such as the one at the Friarage in Northallerton.

I shall finish on a more positive note. Innovative ideas are coming forward from one of our rural police officers. He manages to keep crime rates in his area right down by having an excellent relationship with local farmers and linking them together with radios so that they can report directly to each other and to the police any crime suspected of being committed. There is a huge success story in Richmond that has little to do with public services because of the small amount of public money given but has a great deal to do with the lifeblood of rural areas: volunteers. We renovated and rejuvenated our old station building a few years ago into a film, food and arts centre. The station has two cinemas, an art gallery, a heritage centre, a superb award-winning bakery, a microbrewery and a fantastic ice cream parlour, which is very good in this weather.

The Richmond Building Preservation Trust looks after the building, which has won many awards and has 300,000 visitors a year. Moreover, we are looking to develop more special buildings in our town for community use. We have the Green Howards Museum and the superb Richmondshire Museum, which was voted one of the best small attractions in Great Britain. That is an absolutely fantastic achievement. Again, it was built and is run by a hugely committed group of volunteers. And, of course, we have our famous Georgian Theatre Royal, which gets a very small amount of public funding. So, despite our services crumbling, local people are proud of our town and area, and I warmly invite noble Lords to pay us a visit.