Rishi Sunak accused of failing to alleviate the funding gap between towns and cities and rural communities
Hard hitting stuff from Crispin at the CPRE. This story tells us:
The CPRE charity’s chief executive, Crispin Truman, said reforms were needed and more could have done to help boost funding for market towns and villages in Mr Sunak’s Budget.
He said the Government was employing funding models that “systematically disadvantage” rural communities and worsen the climate emergency.
He added: “By levelling up between urban and rural investment, not just North and South, we could regenerate many rural towns and villages that have been long forgotten.
“It’s just not right that government spending per person on public infrastructure is 44 per cent higher for urban areas than it is for rural areas with no major cities. We risk levelling up Northern cities to the level of London and leaving rural areas stuck in disadvantage and decline.”
Both the CLA lobby group and the NFU welcomed Mr Sunak’s announcement that business rate relief and the reduced VAT rate will both be extended.
The NFU’s president, Minette Batters, urged the Government to invest in farming to bring “huge benefits to sustainable food