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Countryman
Diary - September 2008
The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) has just published
its tenth State of the Countryside report, in the series aimed
at providing the definitive picture of rural England. The CRC’s
role is in advising Government and others so that the needs of
rural communities are represented more fully and rural people
are not disadvantaged by where they live.
The conclusions are that while there are many advantages to
living and working in rural England, there remain some significant
challenges. The quality of life may often be better in rural
areas but this is not the case everywhere and for everyone. The
latest report highlights a rise in households living in poverty
in rural England and a growing inequality between remote rural
areas and other parts of the countryside.
Stuart Burgess, chairman of the CRC, reflects on aspects that
have remained important since the report was first published
in 1999: “The decline in services in rural areas continues
to concern. Each year we have found there are fewer outlets for
many services and poorer accessibility to services for people
without cars. Use of the internet has risen markedly in rural
areas, and rural internet users are more likely to use it for
accessing services, but the availability of high-speed broadband
remains low in sparsely populated areas.
“Meeting affordable housing needs in rural areas remains
a dominant challenge, with demand being heightened because of
people seeking to relocate to the countryside. Housing affordability
continues to be worse in rural areas – in 2007 the average
rural house price was £257,600 compared with £212,823
in urban areas, with rural house prices 6.8 times annual household
income, compared to 5.8 times in urban areas. In some more sparsely
populated rural areas, however, house prices can be up to 9.7
times annual household income. The number of second homes in
rural areas is estimated at 94,000.
“Rural economies continue to show inherent strengths,
with a higher rate of business start-ups than urban areas. However,
wages for people working in rural areas continue to be low and
for many work is not a secure route out of poverty. The series
of reports has highlighted a continuing decline in the number
of people working in agriculture.
“The character of large parts of England’s countryside
is changing as a result of built development; demand for new
development is significantly higher (per household) in rural
areas than urban areas and the countryside has seen a greater
number of new houses than in the urban fringe in recent years.
Consequently, concerns about the quality of the countryside have
remained important although environmental regulation has stabilised
and in some case improved the quality of water, air and landscape
in many areas. People in rural areas generally enjoy healthier
lifestyles and a better quality of life, generally the incidence
of crime is lower.
“There have been distinct changes in farming over the
last ten years with recently a sharp fall in un-cropped land
that was previously set aside and fallow, this is mainly due
to increase in crop prices and the removal of the requirement
for farmers to set-aside land under the European Union’s
Common Agricultural Policy. The value of agricultural land rose
sharply during 2007, mainly due to increases in the prices of
agricultural commodities and to high demand for land for ‘lifestyle’ rural
properties. There are signs of a renewed sense of optimism amongst
farmers but these trends could increase pressures on environmental
quality once more.
“New issues are coming to the fore that were not considered
significant for rural areas in the past. These largely flow from
global and long-term challenges, including climate change or
developments in the global economy such as growing consumption
in developed countries. Changing use and the demand for land,
such as the possibility of diverting land from food to energy
production, are occurring due to such trends.”
I suppose it is gratifying in some ways that these facts back
up what most respected rural commentators and seasoned country
folk have been saying for several years now, but, wearing my
cynical hat once more, I wonder just how much the Government – of
whatever persuasion – will take notice of the report’s
findings and how many more years it will be before solutions
are found.
New forest to be planted
England’s largest continuous new native forest is to be
planted in Hertfordshire by the Woodland Trust charity, creating
a history-making broadleaf woodland covering 850 acres near St
Albans. More than 600,000 native trees will be planted on land
it is planning to buy near Sandridge, between St Albans and Harpenden,
which will create a forest area bigger than London’s 770-acre
post-2012 Olympic ‘Urban Park’. It will also be the
single largest native woodland site owned in England by the trust.
Site purchase, planting of trees and management costs for its
first five years total £8.5m, prompting the Woodland Trust’s
largest ever fund-raising campaign. The land, currently farmland,
has pockets of irreplaceable ancient woodland providing precious
wildlife habitat. But the site also offers the charity its most
exciting woodland creation opportunity in England in its 36-year
history.
England has lost half its ancient woodland since the 1930s,
either to development, agriculture or planting with non-native
conifers – leaving
just five per cent of native woodland cover and making England
one of the least wooded countries in Europe.
Note: apologies for calling the Woodland Trust the Wildlife
Trust in one part of a feature last month on the trust’s
Ancient Trees project.
Unruly guests
My thanks to Mr W R Rose for raising a smile (I don’t
go round throwing smiles away, willy-nilly, you know) with his
note about a sign he saw in the window of a public house offering
bed and breakfast: Wanted – a suitable person to keep the
car park tidy and the boarders in order.
Paul Jackson |
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