Shropshire’s countryside could be transformed into a leaner, meaner, more profitable business machine if the Government tackles the crisis head-on, writes Rural Affairs Editor Nathan Rous.Rural tsar Dr Stuart Burgess believes economic contributions could be more than doubled by lifting the performance of medium and larger firms, by attracting more investment and by strengthening the capacity to innovate.
This, in turn, would reduce rural poverty, close the gap between rural and urban wages and make communities more able to cope with disease, flooding and other problems.
He said: “My report sets out a package of practical proposals for co-ordinating government activity in-cluding the creation of a Rural Finance Forum to examine and overcome the causes of lower capital investment, poorer access to finance, and lower funding for rural economic initiatives.”
He called for the creation of a Rural Innovation Initiative to address the special challenges and opportunities in sparse or remote rural areas and the development of networks to improve access to employee and business support programmes and share good practice,
He also said he would like to see work by the government, insurance and rural industries to improve response to shocks caused by disease and bad weather and develop new insurance products.
Dr Burgess added: “At the heart of any drive for improvements will be better understanding of the scale and performance of rural economies from business and city leaders, economic departments and agencies.
“This is why I have also recommended that the government convenes a national summit and sponsors a series of regional summits to focus attention and activity towards releasing the potential of rural economies.”
Shadow rural affairs secretary Peter Ainsworth said: “This report is right to highlight the considerable enterprise and industry in England’s rural areas, which the Government’s erratic and disjointed approach is failing to maximise.
“Unlocking the potential of the rural economy could as much as double the £325 billion currently earned by rural firms, reduce worklessness and bear down on the persistently high levels of poverty in the countryside.”
4 Comments
“This, in turn, would reduce rural poverty, close the gap between rural and urban wages and make communities more able to cope with disease, flooding and other problems.”
Yes and also turn the countryside into an intensely cultivated monoculture with larger fields, fewer hedges and nearly no areas for wildlife (because they don’t make money). Local people would still be unable to buy or even rent local property and the divide between the rich and poor would grow even wider. The countryside would end up like it is in some parts of Europe (and indeed already some areas of Britain) - an extension of urban areas, where food is mass produced under the cover of enormous buildings and plastic covering.
The future for Shropshire? No thanks!
“Yes and also turn the countryside into an intensely cultivated monoculture” I’m not sure where that one came from. Absolutely nothing in this article suggests this and if DJ knew a little wider info about Dr Burgess’s report, he’d know that the report aims to show the countryside isn’t just about farming. There are all sorts of other businesses out there that would benefit from the kind of support enjoyed by urban businesses.
What we need in Shrewsbury to reduce poverty in a sustainable way is less farming and more diversity of rural businesses makeing more use of land for fuel crops, forestry and recreation plus the real silver bullet what we really need clearly is a universtiy and the high skilled, well paid jobs and linkages to other high tech areas of the economy that this will bring
Mark I don’t disagree with your general jist however I think in the current world position it is important not to lose sight of rural areas need to produce food (which certainly should be in a sustainable way). Much of the world has seen food riots and world cereal resrves are at an all time low any economy is 9 meals away from social break down. The use of land for all sorts of diverse enterprises including energy crops is fine but the main aim must still be to produce food.