Breadcrumbs
INVESTMENT IN RURAL SERVICES CAN PAY DIVIDENDS - Tuesday 6 Nov 2001
Equally, more rural communities now have somewhere to meet and carry out a range of activities. Throughout most of the 1990s, some 70 per cent of parishes had a village hall or meeting place, but in 2000 this had risen to 85 per cent, with help from lottery funding.
"This change in fortunes for rural transport and village halls shows what can be achieved by more investment in rural services tailored to what local people need," said Pam Warhurst, deputy chair of the Countryside Agency. "It is possible to stop the rot. For rural transport, this change coincides with the introduction of a number of schemes designed to help improve local services, such as our rural transport partnerships and the rural bus subsidy grant, showing what can be achieved with public investment in rural areas. Of course, more needs to be done. Three out of ten rural settlements still have no bus service at all, mostly in places where less than 100 people live but altogether accounting for some 1.75 million people. It is at this very local level that imaginative ideas for solving people's mobility problems are particularly important and the Countryside Agency's new parish transport grants can provide the financial backing to get those ideas moving."
The triennial survey, however, points to a continuing decline in rural post offices. It remains the most widespread service network but, between 1997 and 2000, 546 rural post offices have shut. The 2000 survey shows that one in every fifteen rural households (387,000) lives more than 2 km away from a post office - whereas in urban areas nearly all households are within 2 km.
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Whilst welcoming the improvements, Pam Warhurst warned: "The challenge in providing quality rural services is a wide one. We are worried about the vulnerability of these services, especially in smaller settlements. The current pressures on the Post Office and doubts about the future of the Universal Bank could lead to further closures, despite the Government's commitment to maintain the rural network. At the same time, projects such as Your Guide*, combining a one stop shop for information services with secure cash handling, being piloted by the Post Office across Leicestershire, must be encouraged.
"We continue to look for new ways to deliver services in rural areas, in particular through our market towns and vital villages initiatives. But, if the Government is to meet its own commitment to rural service standards in its Rural White Paper, better public services for rural people and businesses will need additional investment."
For other essential services, the picture appears to be stable. More than seven out of ten rural settlements do not have a general store or village shop, but 80 per cent of rural households live within 4 km of a supermarket. Other findings from Rural Services in 2000 include:
nine out of ten rural households live within 2 km of a primary school;
more than eight out of ten live within 4 km of a doctor's surgery; yet with few out-reach services significant numbers of households (nearly 13%) live between 4 to 8 km away;
nearly nine out of ten rural households live within 4 km of a petrol station
more than half of all rural settlements do not have a pub;
1but over 50 per cent of all parishes have at least one youth club; 9 per cent of parishes have a community Internet facility;
nearly six out of ten rural households have a bank or building society within 2 km of their homes; but for businesses the closure of rural branches can impose significant difficulties;
job centres are concentrated on larger market towns and urban centres, with seven out of ten rural households living within 8 km;
yet six out of ten are more than 12 kms from a Benefits Agency.
The Countryside Agency's Rural Services in 2000 report is the most comprehensive to date. The fourth in a series of triennial surveys, it presents most data for the first time at a settlement level, as well as providing the parish-based results as in previous years. mf
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Pam Warhurst said: "This is a valuable report. Our move to post coded data will help service providers plan more effectively, mapping service provision and identifying gaps in rural areas.
It gives us a much better understanding of the complex and changing picture of services in rural England, and will help us develop market towns as strategic service hubs for their surrounding countryside. Some areas of rural England are well served, while others are lacking. Many rural households, especially those living in smaller villages and hamlets, are disadvantaged when it comes to something as essential as getting to work, shopping for groceries or accessing cash.
"To ensure a fair deal for rural areas requires creativity and innovation to work together and deliver services where they are needed."
Rural Services in 2000 (CA 48) can be downloaded from the Countryside Agency web site at www.countryside.gov.uk/rural services or is available from Countryside Agency Publications, P.O.Box 125, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7EP Tel: 0870 120 6466 price £16. Further information about the Countryside Agency's grant schemes, for community services, parish transport, town and parish plans to help rural communities plan for their future, is available on the web site or by calling 0870 333 0170.
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Notes to editors:
The Countryside Agency is responsible for advising government and taking action on issues relating to the social, economic and environmental well-being of the English countryside.
Deputy chair, Pam Warhurst, is a board member of Yorkshire Forward (RDA), a trustee of the Earth Centre, and chair of the National Countryside Access Forum. She is a former leader of Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire and former chair of Calderdale Healthcare NHS Trust.
There are around six million rural households in England. Market towns are defined as centres of population in rural areas with a population of between 2000 and 20,000; parishes have up to 10,000 in population; and rural settlements have less than 3,000 residents.
By applying geographic information system (GIS) technology to the results of both the parish survey and post coded data, the new rural services survey 2000, provides an assessment of the geographic availability of services to individual settlements and households. The resulting database is very substantial and the Countryside Agency will publish further, more detailed regional reports, and an accompanying technical report, in both hard copy and electronic format
*Your Guide, formerly known as Government General Practitioner, was developed to provide revenue to help sustain the nationwide network of Post Office branches.
