Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Trudy Harrison and Andrew Bridgen

Thursday 30th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Ind)]

5. What steps she is taking to support rural communities.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Trudy Harrison)]

We want to ensure that rural areas and the people living within them are absolutely given the opportunity to flourish. We are supporting rural businesses in communities with £5 billion of Project Gigabit funding and £1 billion of shared rural network funding. We are improving their connectivity to make sure that rural areas thrive.

[Andrew Bridgen]

The new national forest has been of huge benefit to both my former coalmining communities and my rural communities in North West Leicestershire, to the point where many of the villages and communities just outside the forest would like to be part of it. Could the Minister give her advice on this matter?