The forgotten rural pieces of the West Midlands
Alister Scott is a rural hero and a man after my own heart when it comes to rural. His reintroduction of the fringe (not a fashion statement) in this article is most timely as central Government seems to continue its fixation with cities. This article tells us:
One could be forgiven for not realising that the West Midlands has diverse and attractive rural spaces with agriculture alone producing some £440 million to the economy (Defra, 2013).
A significant rural-urban fringe surrounds “Greater Birmingham” where the wider rural development dimension has been largely forgotten and neglected in policy and decision making.
Recent debates about economic growth, housing, inward investment and devolution have focussed almost exclusively on the city and surrounding urban areas with only the green belt being the quintessential “rural” bit that features in contested debates over the kinds of growth and development that we want.
Whilst this seems logical given the economic powerhouse that is Birmingham, there are significant missed opportunities in neglecting rural development and inherent dangers in not understanding the urban-rural interdependencies and wider natural assets that are key to the future prosperity of the West Midlands itself.