Rural Communities

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for rural communities over the next two years.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, I am delighted to have this opportunity to debate such an important subject and am deeply grateful to have secured this Question for Short Debate. I declare my interests as honorary president of National Energy Action, honorary associate of the British Veterinary Association, and honorary vice-president of the Association of Drainage Authorities; I also work with the Dispensing Doctors’ Association. I look forward to all contributions this evening, but especially the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Elliott.

Rural communities face many challenges and are of a different nature from urban communities, yet in policy terms they are frequently overlooked. While the 2024 Labour manifesto did not specifically mention rural communities, many of the commitments it did include may damage them. There is a desperate need to support farming and other businesses in rural areas with better broadband and mobile connectivity. A lack of public transport in rural areas means that young people are unable to access jobs, while older people find access to hospitals and healthcare challenging for the same reason. The £2 bus fare has helped, but will the Government keep this? There is inadequate public transport in rural areas, but I see no point in devolving more powers to local communities and leadership for bus and other local transport provision if there are no additional resources to meet the new responsibilities.

Planning rules and guidance go some way to protecting rural communities—for example, the ban on building on flood plains and areas prone to flooding. However, rural communities are often used for the convenience of urban communities, with energy being a good example. Too often, energy is generated at sea or on land far away from where it is to be consumed. That energy then traverses rural communities, which are blighted by pylons, without gaining any of the benefits such far-flung, sparsely populated communities long for in often cooler climes with poorly insulated houses and residents on low incomes. It transpires from a Government-sponsored study that it can be cheaper to transfer electricity underground rather than through unsightly, environmentally unfriendly overhead-line transmission. Power lines should be placed underground, or alternatively, electricity generated from renewables should serve those closest to the source of the power generated.

Turning to public services, these are often more costly to deliver in rural than urban areas. Hospitals and GP surgeries can be difficult to access. Every increase in fuel duty affects the ambulance service. There is poor broadband mobile connectivity, meaning that dispensing doctors and rural GPs are unable to issue electronic prescriptions. There are inequalities of healthcare between urban and rural areas which need to be addressed. One hopes that the follow-up to the Darzi review will tackle these.

Rural communities have a desperate need for a smaller, affordable one-bedroom or two-bedroom homes, yet the Government are planning to build 300,000 houses a year, many in areas of water stress and on flood plains and mostly with four or five bedrooms. This will not address the shortage of affordable homes in rural areas but will create problems of increased sewage and houses with five or five times the amount of sewage coming out into inadequate water pipes which, when mixing with floodwater in combined sewers, will enter the sea and rivers.

Farming lies at the heart of the rural economy, yet farmers face great uncertainty. Farmers have a role to play in creating better self-sufficiency, energy and food security, generating power through renewables on their land, and they would like to sell into the national grid. In terms of storing floodwater on farmland, as we heard last week, farmers perform a public good, which should be recognised—along with other public goods that they perform—through the environmental land management schemes. Yet there is an underspend in Defra. I have seen one figure of £138 million and one of £350 million. There is also mounting concern over the forthcoming Budget, not least on the implications of inheritance tax for farms. The Government must give certainty and clarity to farmers by spending the moneys committed to farming in full and setting an increased multiannual agriculture budget for the duration of this Parliament.

To boost food security and self-sufficiency, we must consume more home-produced food and fewer substandard food imports from third countries. It would be very helpful to have an update on the land-use framework, the National Planning Policy Framework and planning policy guidance, to reflect farming being the primary role of the countryside. While environmental benefits sit comfortably with best farm practice, the mass development of solar panels, tree planting, carbon offsetting and housebuilding on Britain’s most productive and fertile land does not make good sense. In the Budget on 30 October, will the Government commit to reviewing the agricultural property relief in a compassionate way, to ensure that it remains available to those landlords prepared to let for the longest terms—10 years or more—to give tenant farmers greater security? When farmers do well, rural communities and market towns flourish.

Racing also plays a major role in rural communities. North Yorkshire plays host to racecourses at Ripon, my former constituency Thirsk, York, Wetherby and Doncaster, jewels in the crown of 54 courses dotted around the UK. Overall, racing is the second-largest spectator sport in Britain, yet it has experienced significant economic challenges recently, from the pandemic to inflationary pressures of the cost of living crisis. I urge the Government to consider ways to encourage racing, which supports 85,000 jobs across mostly small and medium-sized businesses and is a major employer in many areas, including my own former constituencies, the Vale of York, then Thirsk and Malton, providing career opportunities for young people as well as an outlet for leisure, hospitality and tourism.

The role of vets in rural communities is crucial. The veterinary profession is an integral part of the agricultural and food sector, working collaboratively with others to protect animals, people and the environment they share. Vets working across the meat sector underpin the economy, providing value to the £9.1 billion domestic meat industry and the £2.1 billion meat export trade. The vet/farmer relationship is an integral part of any farming team at every stage, from farm to fork, and facilitating trade too. Vets have a health and welfare role to play, not least at auction marts such as that at Thirsk, as well as on the farm.

A strong working relationship across the whole farming team is vital, yet an ongoing issue facing the veterinary sector in rural areas is the veterinary workforce shortage, which I hope that the Minister and the Government will address. The number of qualified vets joining the profession decreased when we left the European Union and it is felt that the new salary threshold will exacerbate the UK veterinary workforce shortage.

I welcome the Minister to her place as the rural communities Minister and ask her to value rural communities, to use the forthcoming spending review to restore the balance in spending in rural areas and to ensure a fairer spend on public services such as health, transport, housing and energy. That will give farmers—the largest sector in the rural economy—certainty and clarity of policy going forward, and ensure that all farmers can prosper and survive, whether they are arable farmers, livestock farmers, tenant farmers, owner-occupier farmers, family farms or larger farms.

Will the Government take the opportunity to create an energy policy that works for everyone, whether living north or south, in an urban or a rural community? I know that, in replying, the Minister will say that her hands are tied by both the forthcoming Budget and the spending review. However, the opportunity must not be lost to ensure a vibrant future for farming, for racing, for market towns and for auction marts, where everybody in rural as well as urban communities can prosper throughout the length and breadth of the land.

Flood Prevention: Farmers

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Thursday 10th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I congratulate the right reverend Prelate on securing this very important debate, which is very timely given the recent wet weather. I declare my interests in the register. In particular, I am a vice-president of the Association of Drainage Authorities, which encompasses the internal drainage boards.

As the right reverend Prelate said, farmers perform a huge public role producing food and delivering wholesome products domestically, battling the elements as they do so. They can and do face unfair competition from substandard imports and the inability to bid favourably for major contracts with prisons, schools, hospitals and others. However, farms are businesses, and they need to make a profit and have a sustainable business model.

Flood water is retained on farmland, which in turn protects businesses and properties downstream from flooding, yet often this service is neither recognised nor rewarded. Farmers are responsible for keeping the riverbanks on their land free from debris and maintaining the embankments, which act as a flood defence and are often in a state of disrepair. In addition, as members of internal drainage boards in low-lying areas, farmers provide the vital service of maintenance, dredging watercourses and performing flood prevention schemes.

The Environment Agency’s resources, as we know, are spread thinly and do not stretch to cover rural areas on the same basis as urban ones. The issue of maintenance and repair of pumping stations is hugely important as, where flood banks are breached in extreme floods or pumping stations fail, devastation follows for farmland and properties alike. Where farmland floods, thereby protecting other businesses and communities, it is only right that the farmer affected should be recognised for the provision of that public good on his or her land. I am sure that many farmers take a view that, if they were properly compensated for the provision which enables them to remain with a viable business, that would be an acceptable recognition for the service to the community they are providing.

Local authorities in rural areas also have a role to play but we know that their budgets are under great pressure. This is not helped where money for flood defences and prevention is not ring-fenced. Where regular maintenance does not take place, this makes farmland yet more vulnerable to floods. I believe that farmers and organisations such as golf clubs would be open to creating reservoirs on their land but are discouraged from doing so by the prescriptive provisions of the Reservoirs Act 1975. The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 modified that Act to reduce from 25,000 to 10,000 cubic metres the capacity at which a reservoir will be regulated. This should be revisited urgently. If it was reviewed, it would help more reservoirs to be created on farmland and other land, such as golf courses.

Sufficient investment must be made to maintain and manage our river systems. I have long argued that there should be a total budget for flood defence spending—totex—as opposed to conflicting and competing revenue and capital funding spend. This came to light most graphically when there was an enormous row during the flooding on the Somerset Levels some years ago, about whether the moving of a pump on to that land constituted revenue or capital spend. The farmers did not care what it was; they wanted the pump to be on the land to pump the water off the farmland, protecting it and communities downstream. Better use must be made of current budgets by rebalancing spending allocations from the current heavily weighted capital investment choice to a much more balanced approach, favouring revenue funding and the long term, to bring all flood risk assets and rivers back up to good condition.

Farmers have suffered significant challenges in recent years—Covid, the impact of hostilities in Ukraine, higher energy costs, and heavy losses of crops given the sheer scale of floods over the last 18 months. Floods this year have impacted on both arable and livestock farmers alike. As reported in the Yorkshire Post today, what makes the situation so grave and urgent, after weeks and months of flooding and saturated land, is that the impact on food prices is already being felt. The potential consequences for food security and self-sufficiency are significant, as highlighted by the right reverend Prelate. I therefore join his call for action. I press the Minister to confirm that the Government will go ahead with the expanded offer of the farming recovery fund, and to recognise what was always understood: that the public good that farmers perform with flood storage on their farmland will be recognised and receive compensation through the ELM scheme.

Will the Minister review the Reservoirs Act 1975, as amended by the 2010 Act and others, with a view to encouraging more reservoirs to be built on farmland and other areas, such as golf clubs? At present, she must recognise that the duties on landowners of smaller reservoirs are simply too onerous, with responsibilities for inspections and failure in this carrying criminal penalties and convictions for such offences. Finally, will the Minister look at amending the flood defence grant in aid to ensure that farmers and rural communities are treated on a more equal basis with urban areas and receive better protection from future floods?

Water (Special Measures) Bill [HL]

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 9th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I am delighted to follow the noble Lord. I congratulate the Government on bringing forward this Bill so early in the Session and on the ongoing work that the noble Baroness set out in the water sector. I welcome her to her place as she guides her first Bill through this House. I declare my interests as an officer of the APPG on water, as co-author of Bricks and Water reports on various aspects of flooding and water management and as having worked with WICS, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, for some four or five years to 2015.

The Bill examines the role and powers of the water industry regulators and the responsibility of water companies. The Explanatory Memorandum sets out the legal background to the Bill and refers to a number of previous Acts that are referenced or amended by the Bill. However, there was one glaring omission, that of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, which set out many of the standards referred to in the Bill—for example, on page 2 of the Bill, standards that relate to the environment.

There are clearly, as my noble friend Lady Browning set out, related issues between the flooding and pollution aspects of the Bill. Others—the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, in particular—have referenced the need for natural and sustainable solutions and to involve farmers in a constructive way to prevent flooding.

The Pitt review, following the severe floods of 2007, set out a number of recommendations, many of which were included in the 2010 Act, following on from the recognition—for the first time ever—of surface water flooding. Yet two of Pitt’s most consequential amendments were never adopted: first, the mandatory construction of sustainable drainage systems in major developments so as to contain flood water and prevent it mixing with sewage through overflows into the combined sewers; and, secondly, ending the automatic right to connect, which has never happened. This simple measure in and of itself would prevent misconnections, whereby the existing infrastructure simply cannot take the volume of sewage from major new developments, often of four- or five-bedroom homes, with four or five times the amount of sewage coming out of them into inadequate Victorian pipes. The developers and local authorities therefore deem the connections to be safe and refuse to put in appropriate infrastructure to ensure that a safe connection can be made. Were water companies also to have the status of statutory consultees in the planning application process, these misconnections could also be averted.

I therefore urge the Minister to use the passage of this Bill to complete the unfinished business from the Pitt review of 2007 by ending the automatic right to connect, ensuring that developers pay for new connections and mandating developers to construct sustainable drainage systems at the time that a development is built. I shall seek to press the Minister to implement Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 without delay, to end the automatic right to connect and to insist on mandatory use of SUDS; otherwise, as the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, so eloquently pointed out, we will just load more sewage into the watercourses, rivers and seas for the foreseeable future, which is not acceptable.

I would also like the Bill to reflect the impact that the housebuilding programme is having on the ability of water companies to perform their duties under the Bill. The Bill gives the House the opportunity to end the gap in responsibilities between planners, investors and housebuilders and to recognise the responsibility of others, such as highways authorities, which contribute to road surface water run-off entering the combined sewers and storm drains without currently having any responsibility to prevent this form of pollution. That is very costly indeed and is a gap that must be plugged—to coin a phrase.

On Clause 2 and the pollution incident reduction plans, can the Minister say how onerous she expects it will be, in terms of both time and resources, for the water companies to implement them? Will allowance be made through either the existing price review or, more likely, subsequent price reviews for this time and resource factor to be taken into account?

During the passage of the Bill, I hope that we will have the opportunity to consider the role of regulators and comparisons between Ofwat and others such as WICS—the Water Industry Commission for Scotland—particularly as regards customer engagement. I also take note of the fact that Ofwat has only comparatively recently allowed prices to be fixed as part of the quin- quennial review to take account of innovation. Actually, innovation lies at the heart of what the Government are proposing to do in this Bill and the future work that they have set out this afternoon.

Two of the areas in which I believe WICS is very strong in the statutory duties that it performs are promoting the interests of Scottish Water’s customers, including having regard to the interests of current and future customers, and ensuring that customer charges reflect the lowest reasonable overall cost for Scottish Water to deliver Scottish Ministers’ objectives for the water sector. That has in no way compromised the independence of WICS in the way that it operates.

In looking at the level of penalties, I urge the Government to make them proportionate to the offence and the scope and means by which it is actually within the power of the water companies to prevent pollution in the manner in which the Government intend them to be held to account.

Regarding the proposal from the noble Duke, the Duke of Wellington, and others, such as the noble Lord, Lord Cromwell, in support of the idea of establishing one regulator, I remember, in a previous life as a shadow Minister, under the good offices of my noble friend Lord Blencathra, looking at this matter prior to one of the elections—probably the 2005 election. We were going to have “blue water thinking” on scrapping the existing regulators and coming up with one new regulator. So that is the challenge that lies at the door of the current Minister and I wish her extremely well in that regard. We stepped back from that commitment at that time.

There is plenty more to say, and I look forward to saying it in Committee.

Environment and Climate Change Committee Report: An Extraordinary Challenge: Restoring 30 per cent of our Land and Sea by 2030

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Wednesday 11th September 2024 Grand Committee

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I add my voice in welcoming this excellent report and I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, and her committee on it and on securing the debate today. I declare my interests: I sit on the rural interest group of the Church of England Synod, and I am a patron of Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services. In upper Teesdale, almost 50% of the farms are tenanted, as they are in North Yorkshire, where I was an MP. As with every area of policy—this is no exception—we need to balance the interest of preserving nature and the natural world with that of those engaged in making a living and running a business in that environment. There is always a danger, which may flow from mapping and monitoring, of setting arbitrary targets that are too prescriptive and threaten that balance, as set out in the report.

I shall take a perhaps more parochial and domestic view than that of my noble friend Lord Goldsmith, whom I congratulate on what he achieved at COP 15. I will look at SSSIs and national parks, where setting planning policies too strictly prevents farmers and businesses, such as tourism and hospitality, from operating freely. The report has an omission, in that it does not reflect on the role of farmers and businesses in this regard, and indeed that of fishermen in protecting and restoring our seas. We must allow them to ply their trade, earn a living and provide food for the country.

Marine life faces a threat from the development and operation of offshore wind farms. We took evidence on this in the previous EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee, under the excellent chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Teverson. I firmly believe that more research needs to be done in this area.

Farmers play a crucial role as custodians of the countryside and are integral to rural communities. Farmers manage 70% of the UK’s land area and must be regarded as key partners in nature conservation. They have faced a plethora of changes in the new schemes in a very short timeframe and, frankly, an IT system that is not fit for purpose. Recognising their contribution to the natural world will encourage and incentivise landowners and tenants alike to increase their engagement in policy. In developing the 30 by 30 policy, we must recognise the role of farmers on the land and ensure that nature conservation, if it is to be successful, is underpinned by a prosperous, economically viable farming sector.

Farmers have faced a major reset of policy since we left the European Union, and the more that environmental programmes such as ELMS and SFI have regard to the public good and allowing farmers to do that work, the better. Farmers need clarity and certainty in that regard going forward. After seven years of specific support under the CAP, farmers need to be able to create a long-term viable business plan.

Will the Minister, who I welcome to her place today, commit to Defra spending the identified underspend of £358 million over three years? Will she ensure that that money is spent not just on nature conservation but in working with farmers to ensure that they are allowed to grow crops and produce food to boost food security, self-sufficiency and increased exports abroad?

The position of tenant farmers has been ably expressed by a number of speakers, notably my noble friend Lady Rock and the noble Earl, Lord Caithness. This issue is particularly key in upland areas and on family farms in SSSI areas; the role of national parks here must be made clearer. In many instances, tenants are simply not able to claim for environmental schemes as they do not own the land on which they farm. I understand from UTASS that some 70 farming families are stuck in agreements at this time; that the agreements are almost 20 years old; that there has been no review of payments; and that those in the schemes have no ability to enter or transfer into SFI or country stewardship schemes. That is unacceptable. I understand that Natural England has a role in this regard, but we have to query whether it has the resources and the time to commit to this matter at this crucial stage.

ELMS has not emerged as the simpler, less complex, easy-to-administer scheme that farmers and the public were promised. That has to change. We must also end this piecemeal approach to reform and have a comprehensive and holistic approach that recognises what works and when. For example, an area that is good for wading birds is simply not suitable for rewilding or tree planting. I endorse entirely what my noble friend Lady Rock has said. It is unacceptable to propose booting a tenant farmer off the land that they have farmed for a generation in north Yorkshire in order to make way for yet another solar farm. That is not the way forward.

In summing up today, will the Minister undertake to consult closely with farmers and farming organisations going forward as the Government create new policy, starting with forthcoming Bills such as the Water (Special Measures) Bill but including—even more importantly—the Budget on 30 October? We must recognise the specific challenges that farmers have faced over the past five years: the fallout from Covid; imperfect supply chains; the higher input costs of energy and fertilisers, with poorer returns and a shortage of labour; and extreme weather, together with major flooding.

I disagree with my noble friend Lord Banner, whom I welcome to his place. I chaired the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee when we did a degree of work looking at how, if we were to dispense with the badger cull, we would have to accept badgers continuing, across the country, to introduce TB into herds that are currently not infected. I urge my noble friend to reconsider his views in this regard; in saying that, I hope not to be attacked by badger lovers, as I have been previously.

I would like to say a word on sites of special scientific interest. As I mentioned previously, I understand that changes to those schemes must be endorsed by Natural England. Does it have the resources? Will the Minister look at this and perhaps write to me afterwards?

Following today’s report, I ask the Minister to set out what is going to change. Will Defra be clearer about how its 30 by 30 ambition links with other policies, including the Environment Act, the protected landscape targets, the land use framework, the local nature recovery strategies, Natural England’s designation programme and national planning policies? Will she ensure that there is an SFI option for upland and moorland to ensure a sustainable future for upland and family farms? Will Defra ensure that farmers and other businesses working in the countryside are able to do their jobs, while enhancing the environment as conservationists at the same time?