APPENDIX 15
RURAL ENGLAND: A DISCUSSION DOCUMENT
National Trust Response
1. KEY COMMENTARY
1.1 The Trust strongly believes that environmental
quality should be placed at the heart of rural policy.
There must be a strong presumption against any
development which will damage important environmental and cultural
sites and features. Indicative strategies in which planning authorities
identify in advance where certain types of development would be
acceptable will help to ensure their proper protection.
The role of planning designations remains well
understood and will be a crucial component of any indicative strategy.
Nevertheless, designations must not be used as a device to prevent
appropriate development or to fossilise cultures or landscapes.
The test of a new planning proposal should be "is it good
enough to approve" rather than the present criterion, "is
it bad enough to reject" and this principle should be enshrined
in all Planning Policy Guidance.
It will be important to continue to apply pressure
through taxes to discourage environmentally damaging economic
activity, and to encourage the conservation and enhancement of
the environment. The Trust believes that the revenue raised for
environmental taxation should be used to deliver associated environmental
benefits.
Sustainable tourism can underpin the economy
of many rural areas. A regional planniing framework for tourism
should be established which enables opportunity for enterprise
coupled with appropriate regulation. Guidance from Government
should be prepared to clarify how tourism fits into the wider
picture of increasing regionalisation.
The Government should maintain and enhance the
Countryside Recreation Network as a primary means for disseminating
tourism and recreation best practice and for delivering better
co-ordinated research into trends and impacts.
1.2 Policies and practice should recognise
that the natural and human resources of an area are the basis
for sustainable development and that a conserved countryside depends
on the vitality of local communities; these communities should
be built on the distinctiveness and diversity of rural areas,
and have access to locally-delivered, tailor-made solutions.
Prosperity is more than wealth: it should be
defined as economic, social, environmental and cultural wellbeing.
Planning at all levels should integrate these considerations and
regional sustainability strategies should be prepared which set
out key economic, environmental, cultural and social objectives.
The lack of affordable housing is a problem
in rural areas. The shortfall against the target of building 80,000
affordable houses between 1990 and 1995, as recommended by the
Rural Development Commission to the previous Government, needs
to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Approaches to social housing
in rural areas have been based on urban policies; particular approaches
are needed for rural areas.
The Standard Spending Assessment formula is
unreasonably biased towards urban needs so that metropolitan areas
receive 20 per cent more SSA per head of population than shire
counties. There should be a more equitable allocation of Government
funding for rural communities.
There is a need for increased central resources
for improving, and then sustaining properly managed access to
the countryside and on the urban fringe is required. It is vital
that the Government makes provision for the increased administrative
and financial burdens which both landowners and local authorities
will be asked to shoulder as the legislative framework for increasing
access is developed.
A widespread misunderstanding amongst, for example,
Employment Service staff of the diverse active labour measures
available must be addressed. It is becoming clear at both local
and national level that there is a lack of co-ordination. A review
of the management and administration of European Social Fund,
Single Regeneration Budget, New Deal and the Jobseekers Allowance
is required.
1.3 Farming as an activity will remain critically
important as the land use of a large proportion of the United
Kingdom. Communities based on agriculture will continue to lie
at the heart of many rural areas. For these areas a more sustainable
system of support and land management is needed.
It is essential that as the CAP is reformed
the funding that previously supported food production is not lost
to the countryside but instead is directed towards sustainable
rural development and sustainable agriculture.
The Trust believes that public funding support
for farming should be geared to the delivery of a variety of environmental
and social goods:
— high quality and safe food produced
in a sustainable way;
— locally distinctive landscape which
is active and vital and which includes and respects both natural
and cultural components (high quality air, soil and water, biodiversity,
archaeological features);
— appropriate recreation and access;
— community infrastructure and the
promotion of its social diversity; and
— education which is reflective of
town and countryside perspectives, and which promotes understanding
of values, environmental and socio-economic processes and associated
costs.
We believe that a shift away from intensive
to extensive agriculture in the uplands should be one of the aims
of the Government in implementing the reformed CAP.
The Trust believes that the Whole Farm Plan
approach is the best method currently available for delivering
environmental and other "non-market" benefits and that
Government should provide greater resources to encourage this
in non-designated as well as designated areas.
Consumers increasingly are likely to want to
know that food is produced in a sustainable way. There should
be a single, plausible, fully coordinated system for certifying
to consumers that food has come from a sustainable managed source.
The best agricultural land can and should be
utilised for food production. However, the technologies which
enable that to happen should, at a minimum, sustain basic environmental
functions of soil conservation and protection of water (both stocks
and quality). We also believe that, as a condition of this development,
provision must be made for conservation of key habitats, and,
wherever possible, for improving the connectivity of habitats.
Local and regional produce should be promoted.
Measures to reduce "food miles" by generating more retail
activity within a few miles of production by individual initiative
or as part of a co-operative rural enterprise should be actively
encouraged.
1.4 While it may be convenient to distinguish
between urban and rural communities, there are many similarities.
The Trust believes that town and countryside can be brought closer
together via strategic and local planning and through education.
Social exclusion is a problem common to both
rural and urban areas; it is important that rural areas benefit
fully from the work of the proposed 18 Policy Action Teams which
will focus on community self help and voluntary action. At present
they have a wholly urban focus.
Regional Planning Guidance should be strengthened
and should set out a framework for development which acts as a
key link between national and European spatial planning policies
and statutory and non statutory regional planning strategies.
It should also ensure that development proposals and planning
structures at all levels do not persist in addressing town and
country separately.
It will be essential that an equitable division
of strategic aims, objectives and funding are devoted to urban
and rural concerns during the production and delivery of Regional
Economic Strategies. Government should allow RDAs further discretionary
powers to adjust their spending upwards to ensure adequate funding
for rural areas.
We are concerned by the consequences and impacts
of large retail outlets developing at the urban fringe. The greatest
economic and social consequences are for small to medium sized
market towns in rural Britain. It will be important for planners
to negotiate a new future which will include promoting new businesses
and developing more residential opportunities, services and high
quality community space within market towns.1.5 The future
for rural areas rests on facilitating internal dynamism, which
is supported by strong networks for sharing expertise and ideas.
At the core of this principle will be access to effective and
appropriate training.
A strong framework of statutory support, adequate
investment and the delegation of new powers is now needed at community
level. Better local cohesion coupled with self-reliance can act
as the catalyst for unlocking the special knowledge and skills
inherent in local individuals. The Government should undertake
a review of local mechanisms and clarify how community-based decision
making can be realistically encouraged.
To encourage local employment there should be
an objective in Government at all levels that local contractors
should undertake appropriate work in, for example, transport service
provision, water and waste management.
Commercial or financial incentives to encourage
the reintroduction of mobile services, shops and libraries and
banks and the development of the Post Bus service are needed.
Access to services such as pubs, shops, post offices, banks, schools,
social services, medical services, utilities, protection from
crime and entertainment will underpin the health of rural communities.
Support for regionally-based entrepreneurial
development should be a priority for devolved Governments and
RDAs. There is a clear need for more revenue funding to ensure
vulnerable schemes are supported beyond the pump-priming phase
of development. The medium-long term strategies to be produced
by the RDAs will be important in defining this principle.
We see much merit in the provision of a "one
stop shop" for delivering advice on and funding for training
and re-skilling in rural areas. A medium to long term strategy
would further bring stability to the network; RDAs may have a
central role to play.
More widespread use of telematics will be an
important lifeline for employment and community wellbeing and
the Government should ensure the provision of local access points.
BACKGROUND TO
RESPONSES TO
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
POSED IN
THE DISCUSSION
DOCUMENT
2. THE NATIONAL
TRUST IN
THE COUNTRYSIDE[11]
2.1 The National Trust owns and manages
a largely rural estate of 245,000 Ha. This includes 183 houses
of historic interest and also some 20,000 farm houses, farm buildings
and smaller residential buildings, including 46 villages. We have
more than 1,100 farm tenants.
2.2 We employ 3,276 permanent and 3,600
seasonal staff. We help to sustain a wide range of rural businesses
and community based activity. We work with many people including
38,000 volunteers. The Trust has 2.6 million members and up to
50 million visits are made to National Trust properties each year.
2.3 Through its work the Trust is engaged
with people and relies upon their support. It impinges on the
lives of innumerable individuals and groups within society and
across nations. Unlike most landowners, the Trust has a primary
and statutory responsibility to manage its property
for the benefit of the nation.
2.4 The Trust has been undertaking conservation
work in the countryside since 1895. It is the largest non-governmental
conservation organisation in Europe. We understand conservation
to be concerned with facilitating change which will safeguard
the most important components of our cultural and ecological heritage,
enrich the environment and contribute to greater human wellbeing
(including health, employment and economic development). We believe
that conservation is not just about the preservation of special
places but rather it is about negotiating and creating the world
that we want for the future.
2.5 The National Trust has powers to declare
its properties inalienable. They cannot be sold or mortgaged,
or, unless the Trust consents, compulsorily purchased without
invoking a special procedure of parliament. This is a statutory
designation which affords the highest level of protection to places
of cultural or ecological value. It places a responsibility on
the Trust to use its powers creatively for the public benefit.
2.6 It is not possible to carry out conservation
in isolation. It is essential both to influence and to be open
to advice. Conservation is a participative venture, involving
local people, businesses—including agricultural tenants—and
all levels of Government in active partnerships.
2.7 Conservation often needs to be innovative.
Traditional practices cannot be relied upon to resolve many of
our present day conservation problems. As an innovator, for example,
the Trust is providing test beds and pilot sites for a number
of "green" technologies and is an active participant
in several leading edge environmental, conservation, education
and economic research projects. Through pilot community involvement
initiatives it is actively seeking new community based relationships.
RESPONSES TO
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
POSED IN
THE DISCUSSION
DOCUMENT
3. PRINCIPLES
AND OBJECTIVES
Question 1: Is the vision set out in paragraph
2.1 the right one? Are the principles set out in 2.2 to 2.6 the
best way to deliver that vision? What are the main challenges
facing rural areas? What are the priorities for rural policy in
the future and the contribution the public, private and voluntary
sectors can make?
3.1 The Government's broad vision as set
out in this paper is both sound and encouraging. However, we would
focus on the need to negotiate change as the primary challenge
for rural areas. Throughout the 20th century, the protection of
the countryside has been a principal driving force for a number
of NGOs, not least the National Trust, and has also been a significant
component of the rural policies of successive Governments. We
remain protective of the features and attributes of the countryside
that matter most to us but we accept that the countryside is changing
and that some changes are necessary and welcome. We share the
Government's view that we need to plan for the future and fact
it with greater confidence but would emphasise that change must
be genuinely negotiated.
3.2 We have no doubt that the countryside
must have thriving rural communities supported by adequate access
to services and it must also contribute to national prosperity.
We believe that it is increasingly important to promote a participative
economy driven by local initiative and enterprise. Such an economy
draws its strength from the particular resources of the region,
landscape, food, skills, traditions etc rather than relying on
major inward investment.
Case Study: Herdwick Wool
Herdwick wool is a traditional product from
the Lake District. For over 1,000 years, Herdwick sheep have been
farmed in the area for their distinctive wool. Over recent years,
however, the National Trust's tenant farmers have been struggling
to make ends meet as prices have collapsed. At present there is
a two year backlog of surplus Herdwick wool which has no apparent
market.
The Trust is working with its tenants to find
alternative uses for this distinctive brownish-grey wool. It is
already used to make carpets—which now furnish several Trust
offices and holiday cottages—and we are currently exploring
the possibilities of marketing it as loft insulation. It is already
used for this purpose in New Zealand and following meetings with
the Wool Marketing Board and an interested company we are hopeful
that it will be used to insulate British houses in the near future.
3.3 We believe that environmental protection
is a global responsibility in which everyone shares. Local actions
in the UK can affect the future of communities elsewhere in the
world. Our vision therefore goes further than the Government's
view that "the environment sustains the lives of those who
live and work (in the countryside) or visit it." We would
offer an alternative statement.
"The Government wants to ensure that any
change in the countryside will be planned so as to enhance the
environment, locally and globally, now and for the future."
3.4 There is a need for better information
relating to both the environmental and social implications of
development proposals. Regional and Local Environment Agency Plans
(REAPs and LEAP's) are being developed and implemented by the
Environment Agency to address the need for co-ordinated management
of water catchments. Four English Statutory Agencies are developing
an Environmental Capital Programme which helps to identify the
environmental attributes and services that are most important
in a locality. Countryside Character maps provide a base line
for defining regional distinctiveness. Biodiversity Action Plans
promote regional ecological strategies for the protection of species
and habitats. All of these will help us to determine the relative
"prosperity" of the countryside, but more could be done.
The development of the Government's own headline indicators for
sustainable development represent a step in the right direction.
We believe that the Trust can have a role in contributing to an
understanding of the inter-dependence of these components of prosperity
and in the planning tools to accomodate them in development.
Case Study; Brancaster Activity Centre—Educating
the public and consumers
One of the Trust's most innovative education
centres is the Brancaster Millennium Activity Centre situated
on the North Norfolk coast. Funding has enabled the Trust to renovate
the historic Dial House in a unique way, incorporating the latest
renewable energy technology to supplement the energy requirement
of the Centre. These include drawing heat from the mud flats using
a heat exchange system, solar energy and wind power. Our whole
approach has been one of environmental sustainability, a thread
which runs through the choice of materials used in the restoration
of the building to the educational programme on offer there. Not
only can visitors study cutting edge environmental practices,
but they can monitor the impact they have on the environment and
be challenged to respond by thinking of ways in which they can
reduce that impact.
Visitors will be involved in recycling, composting
and water saving and have first hand experience of what it is
like to live in a more environmentally friendly way and the appropriate
market products to look out for.
3.5 We believe that the countryside is an
important resource to promote spiritual refreshment and physical
and mental health. The Trust has a significant contribution to
make in this respect via the extensive access it provides to its
properties.
3.6 Both the protection of the global environment
(Agenda 21) and rural economic sustainability depend on effective
individual and community initiatives. It will be more than ever
important for communities to have greater access to the expertise
and advice they need and to have a greater influence on the future
of the countryside. This will emcompass better co-ordination of
access to training and, through the development of the emerging
Regional Development Agencies and their medium to long-term strategies,
unlocking collective funding to empower local communities. We
return to this under 4.1-4.5 below.
Case Study: The North West Climate Impacts Study
A partnership of the public and private sectors,
including the National Trust, has formed a new group to model
and prepare for the impact of climate change in the north west
of England in the 21st century.
The group is working on behalf of the North
West Regional Chamber and has been asked to assess the impacts
of rising sea levels, flood damage, extreme weather events and
heavier and more intense rainstorms and to suggest approaches
which will prepare the region for these changes.
4. RESPONDING
TO CHANGE
Question 2: What are the best ways to improve
business performance and employment opportunity in rural areas?
What new employment opportunities would be acceptable in the countryside?
How might the right industries be encouraged to locate there?
To what constraints should they be subject? Are there specific
issues relating to training needs (for example, for women, or
for young people)? How might information and communications technologies
and flexible working practices help rural economies?Question
4: How do we decide what is most valued in the countryside
and on what to target available resources and effort?
4.1 According to Rural Development Commission
figures, 1998, 41 per cent of rural employment is provided by
businesses with no more than 10 employees. On the whole, the development
of small businesses is welcome although not all provide significant
opportunities for local employment as there may be an inadequate
local skills base. Small to medium sized professional and service
industry employers may relocate to rural areas but, without the
appropriate local skills base, they attract skilled professionals
from urban areas. We see the development of a strong and diverse
skills base as a high priority for the Government in the immediate
future.
4.2 The current Countryside Agency/Countryside
Council for Wales's Countryside Training Directory is a
good example of the kind of traditional—and sustainable—activities
and skills which the Trust believes should be supported in rural
areas. However, the overlap—and in some cases duplication—with
the land based training provided by Lantra, as the National Training
Organisation for the land-based sector, is clear. A consistent
point of contact provided at a local level would represent progress,
and the track record and profile of Lantra in delivering local
training both within and outside the traditional rural constituency
suggests to us their primary suitability.
4.3 We see opportunities for better co-ordination
and streamlining of the management, publicising and funding of
training schemes. A review of how disparate schemes with common
aims might be brought together under a single medium term strategy
(perhaps led in delivery terms by Lantra), underpinned by co-ordinated
and stable funding—both pump-priming and revenue—should
be undertaken. This would involve Training and Enterprise Councils
(TECs), RDAs, Local Authorities, the CA, Lantra and officials
from sponsoring Government departments.
4.4 It is increasingly important to promote
a regional economy driven by local initiative and enterprise.
Such an economy draws its strength from the particular resources
of the region, landscape, food, skills, traditions etc and relies
less on major inward investment. The Trust would especially value
economic development which is built on and therefore sustains
the cultural and environmental capital of a region and maintains
the diversity of regional characteristics across the UK. Support
for regionally based entrepreneurial development should be a priority
for devolved Governments and RDAs.
Case Study:
The Holnicote Estate is a countryside property
in the NE corner of Exmoor National Park covering 5,042 ha. The
Trust has owned Holnicote since 1944 and it has been the estate's
policy to encourage businesses other than agriculture either by
allowing farm tenants to diversify or by letting houses or buildings
to tenants to set up their own businesses. The results of this
policy and practice are encouraging:
Diversification has:
— increased tenants' income on four
farms that would not otherwise be viable;
— provided an alternative income to
support farm businesses when profits are depressed;
— broadened the tenants' outlook and
experience;
— enabled eight tenants to live and
work in the Trust's houses when they would not be able to afford
the market rent for the house;
— enabled 13 businesses and families
to live and work in the area;
— provided greater support for local
shops, schools, clubs, societies, and village life in general;
— provided the following additional
jobs:
nine permanent full time;
4.5 A recent report by Northern Informatics
notes that, at least in the north of England, small firms based
in remote rural areas are relatively backward in terms of innovation
and technology. These firms in particular concentrate on local
markets and trade and work for other small businesses rather than
larger companies or industrial markets. There are limited opportunities
for growth. The report notes that the perceived need to extend
the customer base suggests a useful role for telematics (linking
computers with telecommunications). The report also notes that
access to telematic services may help to sustain commercial services
for communities in rural areas. As it will be some years before
everyone has access to telematic services in their homes, the
provision of local access points will be an important lifeline
for employment and community wellbeing.
4.6 There are significant differences between
communities and economies in different parts of the UK but in
all regions sustainable development which promotes prosperity
must be an important aim. Prosperity is more than wealth, it should
be defined as economic, social, environmental and cultural wellbeing.
Planning at all levels should integrate these considerations,
not to achieve a balance in every case, but to enable an informed
negotiation of the optimum development to be worked out. It is
important that this expanded definition is seen by Government
and planners as an opportunity and not a constraint on economic
development.
4.7 At a national level, there will need
to be better co-ordination between Government departments over
the spatial impacts incompatibility of some of their policies
(for example, increasing centralisation of health care and education
is working against DETR's ethos of greater provision of local
services), and also better co-ordination in the management of
the different structural funds they control in order to support
regional initiatives most effectively. We see much merit in the
provision of a "one stop shop" for delivering support
in rural areas.
4.8 The new Rural Development Regulation—which
will be accompanied by Rural Development Plans setting the scene
for those "menu options" eligible for receiving grant-aid—should
provide an opportunity to review structures and administrative
methods. There will be an imperative on closer integration of
DETR and MAFF and given the central role identified for training,
education and local involvement in rural areas, DfEE and the Home
Office should also have a role to play. We suggest that the RDAs
and, in time, regional assemblies will be the natural conduits
for framing such cross-cutting strategies. Their delivery is likely
to reside in a blend of Government Offices for the Regions, local
authority and Countryside Agency programmes, though again a single
point of advice/access to the various schemes would be welcomed
by rural communities.
4.9 The priority given by RDAs to rural
development will vary from region to region and there will need
to be sustained pressure to maximise the allocation of resources
to economic, social and environmental programmes in rural areas.
It will be important for the Government to allow RDAs discretionary
powers to adjust their spending upwards to ensure adequate funding
for rural areas. With 80 per cent of the population resident and
employed within urban and suburban areas it will be important
for advocates for rural development to have convincing arguments
as to why the countryside should attract public funds. The Trust
has taken steps to provide this information in its Cornwall, Devon,
Severn and Wessex Regions and this is described under 6.9 below.
4.10 Sustainable development requires Government
and businesses to account for previously hidden costs. This includes
measures to ensure human health and safety as well as wildlife
interests. The continued exploitation of "free" air
and water and the elimination of industrial waste in an "out
of sight, out of mind" way is no longer tolerable and neither
is the uncontrolled exploitation of finite, non renewable, natural
resources. Environmental taxes and tradeable permits are the main
economic instruments to improve economic efficiency while meeting
environmental objectives. Such taxes, for example the land-fill
tax, can be used to fund environmental projects. It will be important
to continue to apply pressure through taxes to discourage environmentally
damaging economic and social activity. Ensuring that future economic
development reverses the pattern of damage to key environmental
functions must be the highest priority. The Trust is a strong
believer in the principle of hypothecation of taxation, particularly
in the case of environmental taxes, and the acceptance of this
by the Treasury will be an important principle for DETR and MAFF
to win (a precedent has already been set as part of the Integrated
Transport Strategy). The Trust believes that the revenue raised
from environmental taxation should be used to deliver associated
environmental benefits.
4.11 As things stand, it is unlikely that
Lottery funds will make a significant contribution in helping
to solve rural problems. Although funds will be available for
specific projects they are focused on capital funding (with little
or no provision for revenue expenditure) and matching funding
must be available. Other sources of funding in rural areas, from
statutory agencies, for example, are also directed towards the
initiation of new projects and are unlikely to make a significant
contribution to promoting rural development. There is a clear
need for more revenue funding to ensure vulnerable schemes are
supported beyond the pump-priming phase of development. The medium-long
term strategies to be produced by the RDAs will be important in
defining this principle.
4.12 The Countryside Agency is consulting
on a proposed "Planning for Quality of Life in Rural England".
It suggests that planning should address all these dimensions
and provide possible indicators to measure achievement. It proposes
that the test of a new planning proposal should be "is it
good enough to approve" rather than the present criterion,
"is it bad enough to reject". If that proposal is adopted
the onus will be on developers to demonstrate that all the criteria
of sustainability are addressed. Such proposals are welcome, and
we recommend that they are enshrined in Planning Policy Guidance.
4.13 A key environmental principle should
be that the planning system manages demand for natural resources.
This means that planning measures must be based on resource availability
and management of demand within the resource constraints—including
end use—rather than perpetuating the predict and provide
philosophy that currently prevails and which has led to the development
of a number of capital intensive and unsustainable projects.
4.14 In the medium to long term it is not
certain that emerging settlement preferences will fit easily into
the patterns determined when agriculture was the dominant rural
employer and towns and cities were the focus of industrial development.
Changing industrial activity means that a growing number of "footloose"
busineses can locate in rural areas with greater reliance on electronic
communication. Historically, too, towns have developed on flood
plains around river crossings. Climate change, if it results in
higher seasonal rainfall, may make houses in such areas uninsurable
because of the increasing risk of flooding. Trying too hard to
defend existing settlement patterns may be costly in financial
and environmental terms and ultimately unsustainable.
4.15 The Government has made proposals to
strengthen Regional Planning Guidance. These will need to set
out a strong framework for development acting as a key link between
national and European spatial planning policies on the one hand
and statutory and non statutory regional planning strategies (including
the economic strategies produced by the English Regional Development
Agencies), and local planning strategies, on the other. The Trust
has supported the call by Wildlife and Countryside Link for regional
sustainability strategies to set out key economic, environmental
and social objectives to be pursued through Regional Planning
Guidance.
4.16 Features and attributes of key importance
in the countryside still need special protection. There must be
a strong presumption against development which will damage important
archaeological sites, significant buildings or sites for nature
conservation or intrude into areas of great beauty or cultural
significance or create irreversible damage to environmental processes.
Statutory designated areas set a base line for conservation of
sites of biological and cultural importance. Indicative strategies
in which planning authorities indentify in advance where certain
types of development would be acceptable will help to ensure proper
protection of important sites. Planning designations (such as
AONBs) are well understood and would be an important component
of an indicative strategy. Nevertheless, designations must not
be used as a device to prevent appropriate development or to fossilise
cultures or landscapes.
Question 3: What can be done to enhance the competitiveness
of the agri-food industries and enable the agricultural community
to make adjustments for the future?
4.17 Since the war, agriculture has been
protected from market trends too robustly and to its detriment.
The accumulation of agricultural surpluses and the cost of the
CAP is unsustainable especially as the European Union expands.
4.18 There will always be the need for some
form of intervention to ensure that agriculture is supported where
appropriate and can deliver environmental and other "non-market"
benefits. The Trust's vision for delivering support to farming
encompasses a system founded on the delivery of the following
environmental and social goods:
— high quality and safe food produced
in a sustainable way;
— locally distinctive landscape which
is active and vital and which includes and respects both natural
and cultural components (high quality air, soil and water, biodiversity,
archaeological features);
— appropriate recreation and access;
— community infrastructure and the
promotion of its social diversity; and
— education which is reflective of
town and countryside perspectives, and which promotes understanding
of values, environmental and socio-economic processes and associated
costs.
Delivering these benefits will depend on taking
a truly integrated approach to managing the land and, in agricultural
areas, the Trust believes that the Whole Farm Plan approach is
the best method currently available for achieving this. The Tyr
Gofal scheme in Wales provides an excellent example of how Government
can facilitate this approach. The Trust is also developing its
own system as outlined below.
Case Study: Whole Farm Plans
In 1996, the Trust appointed a Farm and Countryside
officer in West Wales to set up and manage a project-providing
information, advice and support to assist our tenant farmers and
rural businesses to safeguard and develop their businesses both
economically and environmentally. The appointment of a similar
post in North Wales is imminent. A one year post has now also
been created in Northumbria to analyse and prepare "Whole
Farm Plans" across the region, while other Regions have this
year submitted bids to develop similar initiatives.
The purpose of these posts is to work in partnership
with farmers and tenants of small rural businesses, to identify
business development, environmental enhancement and access opportunities
through the mechanism of Integrated Whole Farm Assessments. These
Assessments look in detail at all aspects of the farming business
and are founded on partnerships with tenants which identify and
take forward opportunities for financial assistance in the form
of local and national grant aided projects. The Trust aims to
identify and listen to the needs and wishes of tenants and translate
these into practical support which delivers common and balanced
conservation, environmental, community and business aims.
4.19 It is essential however that as the
CAP is reformed the funding that previously supported food production
is not lost to the countryside, but instead is redirected towards
sustainable rural development and agriculture. The process of
farming will need to change in many areas to achieve the right
balance of environmental and social goods listed above at 4.18,
but the activity of farming will remain critically important as
the land use of a very large proportion of the UK's area. In the
medium to long term a shift away from intensive to extensive agriculture
in the uplands could have environmental benefits (particularly
for biodiversity conservation and recreation). We believe that
this should be one of the aims of the Government in implementing
the reformed CAP.
4.20 The social structure of farming will
continue to change. Agri-businesses will dominate the most productive
areas and elsewhere smaller scale farm amalgamations, retreat
from marginal land, a resurgence of hobby farming and other types
of small holding venture will create new patterns of ownership
and land-use. Such changes need not be environmentally detrimental,
but could affect the viability of local communities.
4.21 Agriculture must demonstrate that it
can be sustainable and it must be more publicly accountable for
its impacts. Increasingly consumers will judge the quality of
a food product on the way it is produced in terms of environmental
and social factors, and increasingly there is likely to be a price
premium for achieving this (or, conversely, a price penalty for
not achieving it). There should be a single, plausible, fully
coordinated, system for certifying to consumers that food has
come from a sustainable managed source.
Case Study: Churchtown Farm, Cornwall
Churchtown Farm is a tenanted National Trust
farm situated at the mouth of the estuary of the River Fowey in
Cornwall. The land is farmed organically by the tenants and produces
top quality beef and lamb in a natural system which also adheres
to the highest possible standards of animal welfare.
Beef is produced from traditional breeds such
as the South Devon and "Ruby Red" North Devon, which
are suited to the climate and farmland of the area. The farm is
also managed for the restoration of traditional coastal habitats
and to encourage biodiversity and the conservation of landscape
features.
The Trust has provided assistance and advice
to the tenants in equipping the farm with appropriate facilities
(including the conversion of redundant vernacular buildings for
modern use) and the Trust's own restaurant at Lanhydrock now sources
its beef and lamb from Churchtown Farm. This relationship between
tenant and Trust provides an additional outlet to the thriving
network which has been established locally.
4.22 We also believe that farm food can
be more imaginatively marketed. Local and regional produce, grown,
processed, packaged, stored and retailed within a radius of a
few miles by individual initiative or as part of cooperative rural
enterprise should be actively encouraged. It will help to achieve
a realistic premium on locally grown food, to strengthen a regional
character and economy and to improve environmental quality by
minimising "food-miles".
4.23 We are very keen to assist in shortening
the line of production and in enabling local distinctiveness and
quality to flourish. The Government should, for example, provide
more centralised guidance on traceability criteria for local breeds
and food technologies. UK growers should counter their growing
lack of competitiveness in European and World markets by adopting
a "BUY LOCAL" motto: the Government should seriously
consider resourcing a national marketing campaign to promote this
approach. Farmers need to be assisted in negotiating the legal
issues, compliance standards and general business aspects of local
marketing initiatives.
Case Studies: Promoting Local Production
The Trust frequently promotes goods and values
which the supermarkets cannot provide. The example set at the
Trust's Lanhydrock restaurant, quoted above, is repeated elsewhere;
farm shops such as that run on our Kingston Lacy property provide
an outlet for quality food and encourage the development of an
"indigenous" local market with short chains of production.
The "Fellbred" branding exercise,
supported by the Trust's North West Region in Cumbria, is a further
good example of a scheme which seeks to develop for the producer
a premium for the goods which is based on local quality and regional
distinctiveness. At present it delivers up to 20 per cent added
economic value.
4.24 New technological applications in agriculture
may lead to some more environmentally benign practices as fertiliser
and pesticide applications are more precisely targeted for example.
Other technologies, such as GMOs are more controversial. We see
benefit in utlising the productivity of the best agricultural
land but would be concerned that the technologies which enable
that to happen should, at maximum, sustain basic environmental
functions of soil conservation and protection of water (both stocks
and quality). We also believe that, as a condition of this development,
provision must be made for conservation of key habitats and, wherever
possible, for improving the connectivity of habitats. The most
vulnerable habitats will need protection well beyond their visible
boundaries in order, for example, to prevent wetlands from drying
out or becoming contaminated or to allow woodlands to colonise
adjacent land.
4.25 Forestry has only limited appeal as
an alternative productive land use to agriculture. Higher grants
and relaxation of constraints on restoring newly established plantations
to agricultural use would encourage more planting but, in view
of likely restrictions on access, would achieve only modest public
benefit. Woodland creation for long term environmental and social
benefit, especially for wildlife habitat and public access, fully
justifies the present level of grant support in England. However,
while access to forested land can be secured through targeted
grant aid, it is not clear that forest land would be the preferred
destination for visitors if open land was more freely available
for access than it currently is. In addition, the Trust believes
that there is much scope for the further development of energy
coppice (plantations of fast-growing trees periodically harvested
and burned) as a contributor to the search for sustainable and
renewable energy solutions.
5. STRONG COMMUNITIES
Question 5: What do you think are the main concerns
for the future in the provision of services to rural communities?
What do you think are the main priorities? How can these be addressed
in the most cost effective manner? Are there new steps that Government,
local providers and rural communities themselves can take to ensure
the availability of accessible services?Question 6: What
are the most effective ways to help turn around the problems of
communities in decline? Are there circumstances in which managing
the consequences of decline will be the appropriate course of
action? How can community organisations, such as women's groups,
be supported?
5.1 Different social problems need different
solutions. In declining communities the most important need may
be skills training and incentives and support for the development
of small businesses. But access to services is also important,
for example: pubs, shops, post office, banks, schools, social
services, medical services, utilities, protection from crime and
entertainment. The decline in the availability of public transport
means that even in apparently prosperous areas some people do
not have easy access to all essential services. The increasing
variety of telematic services which could accelerate the decline
of retail and financial service activity in market towns will
perhaps help more remote rural communities where a single shop
could provide telematic access to banking and various retail services.
Reintroduction of mobile services, shops and libraries and banks,
for example, and the development of the Post Bus service are also
potential solutions for some communities. Such developments would
need commercial or financial incentives.
5.2 Whether Parish Councils represent the
appropriate conduit for this remains unclear; they have both strengths
and weaknesses in terms of developing local leadership and community
representation or, conversely, appearing to perpetuate cliques
and self interest. What is lacking is an understanding, based
on research, of what local community groups can provide in terms
of self-support and promotion. The Government is best placed to
undertake such a review and to clarify how the expectations of
local communities vested in their own decision making and discursive
bodies can be realistically defined and met. The Trust sees a
strong potential role for community-based and democratically transparent
groups to act as catalysts for unlocking the special knowledge
and skills inherent in local individuals; local voices provide
the best expression of local distinctiveness. Such forums, if
properly resourced and guided, could also take a lead role in
promoting self-help and act as the vehicle for exchanging good
practice both within and between communities.
5.3 In more practical terms, in helping
to meet other needs it should also be possible for communities
(adequately resourced) to call on local contractors to undertake
appropriate development or implement remedial actions in transport
provision, water and waste management thereby increasing local
employment. In many areas of its work the Trust preferentially
employs local contractors.
Case Study: Supporting Local Business
In 1997-98 almost £1 million of building
related work was undertaken at National Trust properties in the
Northumbria Region. In addition, in the same year the Trust spent
£1,056,600 with local businesses and employs 121 regular
staff, all who live locally, at a cost of nearly £987,700.
The Trust in the region has over 70 builders
and craftsmen on its "approved list" and a parallel
commitment to buy local whenever possible. For example, G Wouldhave
Limited was founded in 1993 and won as one of its first contracts
the restoration of the Column of Liberty at the Gibside property.
The business now employs over 20 experienced and skilled craftsmen
and as the founder George Wouldhave comments, "The National
Trust was one of my first clients and working with them over the
years has meant that I'm still in business."
5.4 The most vulnerable communities are
those which have been dependent on a small range of declining
economic activities such as farming and mining. Such communities
are equally vulnerable to new large scale employers which will
themselves be vulnerable to closure as victims of global industrial
trends. These communities will benefit most from diversity of
small and micro businesses. In order for local people to benefit,
as well as incomers, a priority need is for re-skilling and entrepreneurial
support. Our comments in 4.2 and 4.7 above concerning training
delivery and education are very relevant here.
5.5 Long established rural activities, including
hunting and other field sports, together with agriculture have
sometimes been fiercely criticised and, in the case of deer hunting
with hounds, for example, subjected to detailed scientific scrutiny.
The National Trust has taken the view that scientific evidence
of undue suffering is sufficient grounds for deciding not to renew
deer hunting licenses on its land (but allows fox hunting and
other field sports to take place where appropriate). What is also
clear, however, is that rural social activities—which can
be associated with traditional field pursuits—contribute
greatly to the health of thriving and participative rural communities.
They promote communication between and within communities and
act, in many cases, as the social glue binding often dispersed
communities. It is important that the Government recognises this
and puts in place support mechanisms which enable community access
to services and facilities which allow these activities to continue
where appropriate. Village halls, local public houses, village
greens, effective public transport: these are all examples of
facilities which make up the mosaic underpinning rural social
activities.
5.6 Finding out what is most important to
local communities will provide the key to tailoring local solutions
to local needs. They will be in different areas of the countryside.
The Trust has recently pioneered its own system to promote shared
strategies which meet local needs and aspirations.
Case Study: Statements of Significance
The National Trust has recently embarked on
a programme to identify and understand what really matters in
the places we manage. The exploration covers economic, social,
environmental and cultural perspectives, often extending beyond
the boundaries of the property. Consultation with stakeholder
groups, including local communities, neighbours and visitors is
being developed as a major part of the programme. This process
can form the basis of new social relationships which will lead
to greater community participation in the care of their environment
and could lead to the development of community management partnerships
for some sites.
6. A FAIR AND
INCLUSIVE SOCIETY
Question 7: Does more need to be done to ensure
that national initiatives fully respond to rural needs? Are there
other measures to be taken to tackle problems of social exclusion
in rural England? Are particular measures needed to give a voice
to and help groups such as women, the elderly, the young, the
ethnic and other minority groups and those with special needs?
6.1 The Rural Group of Labour MPs has recently
published a paper (Equity is the Issue), setting out the case
for fairer Government funding for rural communities. The Trust
would share their view that the Standard Spending Assessment (SSA)
formula is unreasonably biased towards urban needs so that metropolitan
areas receive 20 per cent more SSA per head of population than
shire counties and we would welcome early indications from the
Government that there are plans to implement more equitable arrangements.
6.2 We note that disaffected groups, especially
young people, may respond to economic and social exclusion in
ways that are damaging to all: crime, violence and drug abuse.
We welcome the Home Office's Social Exclusion Unit report "Bringing
Britain Together", and especially the proposal to set up
18 Policy Action teams. These will focus on community self help
and voluntary action in 44 poor neighbourhoods through collaborative
action across Government departments, local government and the
voluntary and community sectors. We also welcome the Government's
New Deal allocation of £800 million over three years to some
of the worst off communities. It is important that rural areas
benefit fully from initiatives of this sort and at present the
Policy Actions teams have an exclusively urban focus.
Case Study: Newcastle Inner City Project
There are a number of initiatives where the
Trust is working with inner-city communities to help improve access
to and understanding of the countryside. This is being promoted
through the provision of transport, the organising of particular
events and, perhaps most importantly, to assist in improving people's
confidence and abilities to visit and enjoy the countryside.
In 1988 the National Trust's Northumbria Region
set up the Newcastle Inner City Project. The aim of the
project is to build up confidence through informal countryside
education. The programme has worked with young single mothers,
14-16 year olds (many of whom have been expelled from school),
active people in their 60s, and members of a local history society.
The activities start locally, for example with ice skating outings,
and progressively move farther afield with participants building
up the confidence to explore and enjoy the countryside during
the day and residential trips.
Local benefits result, for example, with some
of the single mothers returning to school and young people learning
new skills and gaining the confidence to be self-sufficient. The
successful activities of the project are now being used as a model
to provide information and guidance for other youth and community
groups in Newcastle.
6.3 The Trust welcomes the changes in active
labour market measures which have been implemented since the election.
These have substantially increased the help available to the unemployed
and other socially excluded groups; launching the New Deal and
creating employment zones and other intermediary schemes have
made a real difference. However, existing schemes are also being
retained, such as the European Social Fund measures and grants
delivered under the Single Regeneration Budget. As a result it
is becoming clear at both local and national level that there
is a lack of coherence in the approach of various active labour
measures.
6.4 This leads to organisations like the
Trust being unaware of the full range of help which is available.
Potential partners are further discouraged when they are informed
of the confusing contradictory arrangements, criteria and paperwork
for attached to the various schemes. For example, there exists
widespread misunderstanding of the Job Seekers Allowance, particularly
amongst Employment Service staff; this can act as a serious barrier
to unlocking the volunteering and training opportunities available
to individuals. In addition, there is often fierce competition
at local level for available funding and the frustration which
this results in acts as a major disincentive to the pursuit of
opportunities.
Case Study: The Link between Volunteering and
Employment
A high success rate in the outcomes for the
National Trust's unemployed volunteers has been reported. Many
have progressed from the experience of voluntary work to applying
for, and succeeding in obtaining, paid employment both within
and outside the Trust. Others go on to further education, and
in conjunction with training providers, we are increasingly able
to offer NVQs.
A recent survey of 25 volunteers who worked
with the Trust's North West Region in the Lake District revealed
that seven secured permanent or temporary posts with the National
Trust, 12 obtained employment with other environmental organisations
and six went on to higher education.
6.5 Social exclusion arises because of the
gap between the haves and have-nots in society. It is exacerbated
by a lack of supportive networks and contact with others. Society
must find the means to support the self esteem and social worth
of individuals in the poorest quintile. Participation in community
links projects and volunteering activity can be a means to strengthen
confidence and involvement.
6.6 Lack of affordable housing is a problem
in rural areas. In some regions the cost of housing is so high
that even relatively well paid people have difficulty in affording
a house. Affordable housing is necessary to sustain a vibrant
community in all parts of the country. Active communities will
need people who are able to undertake many types of work, not
all will be highly skilled and well paid. The Trust has direct
experience of problems faced by its own staff in moving to parts
of Britain where house prices are high.
6.7 The Rural Group of Labour MPs has also
noted that rural authorities have relatively few council houses
and the costs of new buildings combined with stricter planning
regimes present "often insurmountable obstacles to the provision
of social and affordable housing for rural communities".
The Trust has supported the development of affordable housing
on its own land and believes that the shortfall against the target
of building 80,000 between 1990 and 1995 affordable houses, as
recommended to the previous Government by the Rural Development
Commission (by 1997 only 17,700 had been built), needs to be addressed
as a matter of urgency. Social Housing policies and targets are
needed for rural areas. Rural areas have been subject to housing
policies which have a predominantly urban focus.
Case Study: Affordable Housing at Luccombe, Somerset
Luccombe is on the Holnicote estate within the
Exmoor National Park. The village is a designated Conservation
Area and the National Trust owns the whole parish, except for
about 70 acres. Only housing schemes which receive the enthusiastic
support of the majority of the parish, and are developed in areas
with a proven housing need are accepted.
The proposed site in the middle of Luccombe
village met these criteria. The Trust granted a 90 year lease
to the West Somerset Rural Housing Association and influenced
the design of the buildings. Three rendered terrace houses were
built using a simple design in keeping with the character of the
village.
The houses received first prizes in the Building
in the Countryside section of the Royal Show in 1992 and also
a Highly Commended in the Civic Trust Award scheme.
Question 8: How can objectives of improving recreational
and tourism opportunities be met sensitively, and balanced with
the needs of small communities, individual businesses and the
environment?
6.8 There are 1,300 million day trips to
the countryside each year and 20 million UK residents take their
holiday in the countryside. There are 15 million regular walkers
in England. The National Trust is persuaded of the importance
of increasing and improving opportunities for access to the countryside
as a major contribution to the health and wellbeing of the population.
We support the Government's objectives to improve opportunities
for access to rural areas. Research by the Centre for Rural Economy
at Newcastle suggests that a significant proportion of farmers
are prepared to accommodate more extensive public access, though
some are fiercely opposed to the idea. As the development of the
legislative framework for increasing access is progressed it will
be vital that the Government does not lose sight of the increased
administrative and financial burdens which both local authorities
and private landowners will be asked to shoulder. Increased central
resources for improving and then sustaining the infrastructure
for providing properly managed access in the countryside and on
the urban fringe will be required.
6.9 Many rural areas, including Cornwall
and the National Parks are economically dependent on tourism to
a significant extent. In the South West of England, for example,
21 million visitors spend around £4.6 billion each year to
create 225,000 actual jobs. The quality of the landscape (as opposed
to other attractions) contributes between 30 and 40 per cent of
the visitors, the spend and the employment benefit. Tourism also
helps to sustain rural services which equally benefit local people.
The Trust has very much welcomed the publication of the Government's
own sustainable Tourism Strategy and it is clear that the underpinning
ethos of that strategy can be used as a foundation for supporting
and regenerating rural economies.
Case Study: Value Our Environment
A year long study into the impact of the National
Trust's work in the South West has been carried out by Tourism
Associates. This study represents the first comprehensive attempt
to measure the economic importance of the landscape in human terms
and the expenditure required to sustain its quality.
Over 2,000 visitors to Trust and independent
sites were carefully interviewed to establish the importance they
attach to the conservation of the landscape and its contribution
to their quality of life. Spending patterns generated by these
visits and Trust activities were then modelled to indicate the
indirect and induced economic impact and employment opportunities
within the economy which arise as a result of the obligation to
care for landscapes of outstanding natural beauty or biodiversity
value.
The survey revealed that 21 million visitors
spend around £4.6 billion each year and create 225,000 actual
jobs. The quality of the landscape (as opposed to other attractions)
contributes between 30 and 40 per cent of the visitors, the spend
and the employment benefit. (Valuing Our Environment, Tourism
Associates, 1999). Tourism also helps to sustain rural services
which equally benefit local people.
6.10 However, we should also be aware of
the cumulative effect of tourist activity and its impact on the
environment; the Government must take responsibility for ensuring
that a planning framework is established which enables opportunity
for enterprise coupled with appropriate regulation. We see an
enhanced role for awards as recognition for enterprise and raising
the profile of good practice in sustainable tourism. Local ownership
and involvement in finding and paying for solutions to the negative
impacts of tourism should also be encouraged. The Trust has made
significant strides in promoting schemes in some of its most vulnerable
areas.
Case Study: Visitor Payback
In April 1999, the National Trust launched "Caring
Tourism" a visitor payback scheme which encourages visitors
to give money to assist the conservation and management of the
places they visit.
Research has shown that the quality of the environment
is increasingly important for visitors and that they are willing
to contribute to the preservation of the environment they have
come to enjoy. This is particularly true amongst visitors who
like exploring heritage and countryside. Caring Tourism offers
an opportunity for them to contribute directly to the local and
conservation needs of the places they are enjoying to link directly
places visited with local and conservation needs and thus the
contribution the visitors can make to the places they visit.
Hotels participating in the scheme ask their
guests to donate £1 to local Trust conservation projects.
On arrival, each guest is given a leaflet describing the National
Trust scheme and highlighting local conservation projects assisted
by the scheme. They are asked to agree to a voluntary contribution
of £1 which will go to help fund these projects and the donation
is automatically added to their bill unless they have informed
the hotel reception otherwise.
The scheme is still in its infancy, but the
Trust hopes that it will result in participating hotels attracting
more visitors because of their support of the National Trust;
that visitors will welcome the opportunity to invest in their
heritage and countryside while enjoying them; and that much needed
funds to support the Trust's conservation work.
6.11 However, there is a perception in some
regions, North East England, for example, that while individual
attractions are advertised, the tourist potential of the whole
area is not being adequately promoted. A regional planning framework
for tourism is needed. Within that framework tourism ventures
should be at a scale which reflects the character and sensitivity
of the local environment, the social circumstances of the locality
and the economic need.
6.12 How this is produced in harmony with
the cultural strategies which the Government is seeking that Regional
Cultural Consortia are preparing must be resolved. There are clear
potential synergies between the two, but also potential areas
of tension and/or overlap. Guidance from Government should be
prepared to clarify how tourism fits into the wider picture of
increasing devolution.
6.13 The Trust also perceives that there
is currently a lack of quality in the data being collated and
a similar lack of appreciation of the potential environmental
impacts of tourism projects and increased access to the countryside.
The Government should maintain and enhance the Countryside Recreation
Network as a primary means for bringing best practice to the attention
of disparate Government agencies and for delivering better co-ordinated
research into trends and impacts.
Case Study: Purbeck and Sustainable Tourism
Purbeck Heritage Committee
The trust actively works with other organisations
to draw up plans for managing and developing tourism. In Dorset,
for example, the Trust is a member of a liaison group called the
Purbeck Heritage Committee. Purbeck is an area on the south coast
which enjoys both Area of Outstanding Beauty and Heritage Coast
designations. It has a rich diversity of landscape, wildlife,
historic sites and attractive towns and villages. About 4.5 million
visitor days are spent in the area each year and visitor pressure
is causing problems in terms of traffic congestion, footpath erosion
and threats to wildlife.
The Purbeck Heritage Committee was set up in
the face of these pressures to co-ordinate a strategy for protecting
the character and environment of Purbeck and to promote sustainable
tourism. Membership includes environmental groups, the Regional
Tourist Board, the National Farmers' Union and county, district
and parish councils.
Studland
At Studland Bay in Purbeck, the Trust is planning
to build a "green" environmental education centre. A
wind turbine and solar energy will feature in the design of the
new building enabling visitors to study sustainable "green"
management inside the centre as well as the unique marine ecology,
and heathland outside. Studland Bay is part of a National Nature
Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest and Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty. The centre will be used as a study base for approximately
20,000 educational visitors who come to Studland each year to
study tourism, coastal management, coastal erosion and dune formation.
The centre will be positioned to gain maximum daylight and heat
from the sun. It will be made of timber from the nearby National
Trust Kingston Lacy Estate and use locally sourced, sustainable,
recycled and reclaimed materials where possible. A wind turbine
will provide power and a wood burning stove will provide additional
heating. Rainwater will also be collected.
7. WORKING IN
PARTNERSHIP
Question 9: Is the distribution of responsibilities
between the different levels of Government right? Is there more
that could be done to improve performance and integrated programme
delivery? What mechanisms might be introduced, either in Central
Government, or at other levels to ensure that rural issues are
considered in policy making?Question 10: What is the right
balance between recognising the different nature of rural areas
whilst also ensuring a consistent approach to developing and delivering
policies across the country? How can connections and understanding
between town and country be strengthened? How should policies
reflect particular interdependencies (such as between market towns
and their surrounding areas; or between consumers and what farmers
produce)?
7.1 Communities are changing in response
to two major trends. In some places, the rural population is increasing
as a result of people leaving towns to settle in rural areas.
These communities appear prosperous, employment is high amongst
the under 60s, many, but by no means all, people have a car and
relatively easy access to shops and other services which may be
several miles away. Such communities appear protectionist and
resistant to change. Other communities, often in more sparsely
populated areas, have found that traditionally stable employment,
for example, in agriculture and mining has declined and alternative
opportunities for employment and economic development have been
slow to materialise. Such communities appear to be in decline.
7.2 Although they may not be so stable and
cohesive as once they were, communities formed by people who live
in close proximity to each other, are important to most people.
While it may be convenient to distinguish between urban and rural
communities, there are more similarities than differences. Technically
skilled people can move between town and country with relative
ease to pursue new employment and business opportunities. Less
technically skilled people are faced with falling incomes and
difficulty in finding work wherever they are. Many people who
participate in field sports derive their income from urban areas
and some live there.
7.3 Environmental protection and sustainable
development both depend on the economic and social interdependence
of rural and urban areas within a region. As well as still providing
a large proportion of food and much of the quarry stone and timber
consumed in the UK, the countryside is a place for many recreational
activities, a source of adventure and a depth of historical and
ecological experience. Large towns and cities will remain the
principal economic generators and serve as centres for shopping,
entertainment and many key services as well as cultural innovation.
Many families in rural areas depend on one or more towns for employment.
We understand the economic and cultural vitality in this relationship
and therefore support the Government's emphasis on strengthening
the relationship between town and country.
7.4 However, we would go further. We see
the need for more imaginative planning tools as a means to develop
the relationship and less reliance on the sometimes constricting
influence of designations. We are fully supportive of the need
to revitalise towns and cities and we are persuaded of the considerable
potential for high quality, dense urban brownfield development,
however we also see the need for a variety of urban green space,
from formal parks and large community sports facilities to pocket
parks and semi natural urban community woodland. If this means
urban expansion, then strategies must be planned to maximise the
long term environmental, economic, social and cultural wellbeing
of communities. A key component of this planning would be the
integration of public transport provision with every development.
7.5 Both the Regional Development Agencies
and the Regional Planning Conferences will have a key role in
integrating planning for urban and surrounding areas. There will
be pressing urban concerns but it will be important that the Regional
Planning Guidance provides a strategic framework for the whole
region which fully integrates rural and urban interests, and ensures
that development proposals and planning structures at all levels
do not persist in addressing town and country separately. Similarly,
the relatively small representation for rural issues on the boards
of the RDAs remains a cause for concern. It will be essential
that an equitable division of strategic aims, objectives and funding
are devoted to urban and rural concerns during the production
and delivery of Regional Economic Strategies.
7.6 We are particularly concerned by the
consequences of large businesses, including retail outlets, development
at the urban fringe. They are contributing to a range of unwelcome
environmental and social impacts, there is evidence that they
are causing the decline of many small urban businesses. While
the problem appears to be widespread it may be of greatest economic
and social consequence for small to medium sized market towns
in rural Britain which are losing town centre retail and service
outlets. The introduction of "sequential testing", which
requires planners to search for development for food retailers
and leisure complexes within towns before allowing edge-of-town
and out-of-town development is beginning to take effect. We believe
that this requirement needs rigorous application and co-operation
between neighbouring planning authorities to ensure effective
compliance.
7.7 The problem of market towns will be
exacerbated by the increasing range of telematic services which
is likely to result in the closure of banks, building societies,
insurance services and travel agents, for example. It is possible
that small market towns will undergo further significant change
in character. It will be important for planners to negotiate a
new future which will include promoting new businesses and developing
more residential opportunities, services and high quality community
space within market towns.
Question 11: How should performance against objectives
be measured? What sort of indicators might be used (in respect
of each of the areas covered in Questions 1-10)?
7.8 Rather than trying to pin indicators
to specific points raised throughout the document, we suggest
that the following list can be used as a non-comprehensive basis
for developing more tailored and specific criteria to measure
how the disadvantages faced by rural areas are being addressed:
Social:
— cultural/community identity (involvement
in local cultural/environmental activity);
— regional population trends away from/to
rural areas;
— trends in provision of local bus
services;
— trends in availability of low cost
housing in relation to trends in individual wealth;
— leisure time indicator/recreational
visits to rural areas;
— human health trends (such as, working
days lost through stress); and
— trends in environmental choices (such
as popularity of sustainable energy sources).
Environmental:
— per capita energy budget (generation
and consumption within a region);
— renewables energy—per
cent contribution to total energy consumption within a region;
import-export budget, per cent resource available for further
development;
— water—import-export
budget, catchment transfer, consumption per capita trends, per
cent waste water recycled, water quality trends, ground water
depletion/low river flows incidents;
— air—air quality trends;
— sewerage—treatment standards,
pollution events, infrastructure investment, bathing waters directive
compliance;
— wildlife—habitat/species
incidents, positive/negative trends;
— transport—fuel consumption
trends, infrastructure investment, vehicle ownership numbers trends,
food-miles; and
— wastes—import-export
budget, recycling trends, waste management infrastructure investment,
contaminated land trends (reclamation/new sites).
We would welcome a further discussion about
the application of these broad indicators which we realise represent
a far from exhaustive list and which will require further refinement.
11 National Trust Definitions: Rural means anywhere
in the countryside or in small towns of up to 10,000 population,
but any distinction between urban and rural is arbitrary to a
degree. Sustainability in practice is to find flexible,
adaptive and reversible solutions to environmental and socio-economic
problems. Community is used here to define groups of people
who live in the same geographic area. Back
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