Stop robbing our countryside to pay for the cities
Powerful article from the Chair of the Rural Services Network All Party Parliamentary Group . It tells us:
Britain “has the most reliably beautiful countryside of anywhere in the world“. So said the travel writer Bill Bryson, and who am I to argue with a bestselling author and household name? From the Lake District to the Peak District, and from the Yorkshire Dales to the South Downs and the White Cliffs of Dover, this country is awash with stunning natural scenery. I only have to cycle out of Beverley for proof that Bryson is right; my constituency is a rural area of enormous natural beauty.
There is, though, a side to rural living that is far less attractive and that garners far less interest from the media. For despite the misplaced assumption that country dwellers must be well off, rural areas are just as susceptible to challenges that those in cities face: deprivation, fuel poverty and low wages. Living in a beautiful area does not make those burdens more bearable.
On average, those that live in rural areas earn less than those living in cities. It seems particularly unfair, therefore, that rural residents pay more for their local government and receive fewer services. What’s more, that discrepancy is not going anywhere. In 2015/16, the big cities will receive £130 more central government funding for each of their residents, while their rural counterparts will pay, on average, £81 more in council tax.
It’s strikingly unfair, and it’s nothing new. Rural areas have been unjustly funded for decades. In 2012, however, after years of campaigning, we thought we were on the road to securing a fairer solution.
Three years ago, the Government agreed to give greater weighting to sparsity of population in the local government funding formula, which is the system through which councils secure funding from central government.
After years of campaigning, had we finally made our case? We certainly thought so – we thought that the historic wrong of rural underfunding was finally being righted, with rural areas in line to gain some £250 million a year to help redress the urban bias.
Perhaps we should have known it was too good to be true. For just as soon as this gift was proffered, it was taken away, with some three-quarters of these gains immediately lost due to ‘damping’ – a method used by the Government to minimise big swings in funding grants. The only concession was a new Rural Services Delivery Grant worth £15.5 million in 2015/16. Yet broken down by head, it’s a pittance; somewhere in the region of £1.10 per person.