Rural groups team up to press Treasury for smarter spending on countryside

“The Government should look to correct this urgently, redefining need based on relevant or emerging data sets, suitable for each department serving rural communities.

“Failing to correct these imbalances will only exacerbate funding inequality over time.”

Other priorities outlined by the coalition are improving connectivity, providing long-term support for productivity, ensuring a supply of affordable housing and investing in emissions reduction and natural and cultural capital.

Ideas put forward by the alliance to meet these aims include providing funding to support rural productivity growth, investing in intra-UK roaming on the mobile network, requiring all Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPS) which cover rural areas to have a rural strategy and ringfencing 17-20 per cent of the Shared Prosperity Fund for rural communities.

Diverse

The letter said: “While we represent a diverse range of rural interests, we are single-minded in the view that the economic potential of rural areas can be realised through investment and a holistic approach to policy development which takes into account both the specific challenges faced by rural areas and their considerable assets.

“These changes would enhance economic opportunity, rural quality of life, the resilience of rural communities and help to address the emerging policy challenges of the future, especially those identified as part of the UK Industrial Strategy.”