Rural Economy

Lord de Clifford Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

It is a privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Harlech, and I thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans for his passionate work for rural communities and for bringing the future of the rural economy to the attention of the House today. I declare my interests as set out in the register: I live in a rural village, work in a rural market town, and run a veterinary practice that relies on rural businesses and the community for its turnover.

So, what makes up the rural economy’s Christmas list to the Government to enable it to grow and prosper in the coming years? The first item on my list is very similar to that of the noble Lord, Lord Harlech: government thinking to ensure that the rural minority is not forgotten when major decisions are made by government departments.

The farming community is the cornerstone of the rural economy, and is reeling from the recent Budget, as debated recently and mentioned today. This is an example of how the rural community suffers from the lack of joined-up government and policymaking. There appears to have been very little consultation between Defra and the Treasury on this decision. Will the Minister continue discussions with the Treasury, on behalf of the farming community, on the impact of this change to APR and BPR?

The Government can also support farming by monitoring and reviewing the dominance of food manufacturers and supermarkets in the food market. The price that food is sold to the consumer needs to reflect the cost of production for all businesses in the supply chain, and to ensure that farmers are not the ones squeezed to create profit for those dominant companies.

Joined-up thinking between local towns and local district councils would also be of benefit, ensuring that we can maintain and develop town high streets, which are essential for the rural community. In the town of Malmesbury we have a proactive town council that is looking to develop the town, but one of the frustrations of the local traders is parking charges. These are set by Wiltshire Council and are seen as a revenue generator. The result is a frustrated town council, as it wants to encourage the local community to come into the town to support local businesses and maintain a thriving town centre.

Number two on the Christmas list is planning reform, as mentioned by the noble Earl, Lord Devon, and other Peers. We welcome the review of the National Planning Policy Framework, and the delivery of new homes to address the affordable housing crisis in rural areas and the creation and development of rural businesses. The planning process is costly, bureaucratic and painfully slow, especially in rural areas. An example is Cirencester, in the Cotswolds, which has planning for a housing development of 2,350 houses. It initially went into planning in 2017 and building started in the summer of 2021, but as of today, only 65 have been built, 14 of which are affordable. For an area in need of homes and low-cost housing, building 65 houses in seven years is just too slow to meet demand. That begs the question: is the developer controlling the supply to maintain higher house prices? Would the Treasury consider charging large housebuilders a tax on developments that have not sold any property within five years of granting an outline or detailed plan, to encourage home building? Also, I hope that planning reform will optimise the development of brownfield sites in rural areas, especially redundant farm buildings.

Number three on the list is transport. Ours is a medium-sized business in a rural town, and 95% of our 125 employees drive to work; no one uses public transport. Bus services are difficult to run due to the large number of locations that need to be visited, and passenger numbers are relatively low. So again, we welcome the Government’s review of bus services, but the rural economy needs better public transport to prosper. Future bus services must be more flexible to make them efficient for users, and economically viable for bus companies and local councils. There has to be innovation, such as technology that could request pick-ups and drop-offs in villages when required. I appreciate that these ideas present challenges, but my hope is that the Government can address them through innovation—trying new and risky ventures in public transport to resolve this long-standing problem.

Number 4 on the list is communication, which many Peers have mentioned. I have spoken in the past about communication in rural areas and the deterioration of mobile phone coverage with the turning off of 3G. I have read Ofcom’s response to the Minister of State, and it is reassuring that it will continue to monitor 4G and 5G coverage. The 4G network is essential in rural areas, as signal strength is much greater than with 5G. Project Gigabit continues to be rolled out, as the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, mentioned. As a beneficiary of broadband home fibre in a rural area, I know that it brings massive improvements that enable home working and less frustrating domestic internet use.

This sort of connectivity is essential to growing productivity through the use of current available technologies; it will allow a vast array of small businesses to grow and develop in rural areas. But not all rural properties can be connected economically, especially in Wales, by fibre to the home. Will the Government consider supporting extreme locations with subsidies for satellite broadband to enable businesses to develop in these remote areas?

The list of support could be endless, but the opportunities are great. With joined-up thinking between rural communities and the Government, and with innovation, we could reverse the tendency of rural businesses to decline.