Rural firms are set to lose out on hundreds of millions under revised funding plans unveiled in the recent Budget, the Country Land and Business Association has warned.

The CLA, which represents 28,000 rural businesses and farmers, has criticised the government for removing support aimed at levelling up the rural economy.

The group found that spending plans under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) will lead to a shortfall of £315 million for rural businesses over a seven-year period.

The figure represents the discrepancy in funding assigned to tackling regional economic disparities through the EU’s Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), versus what will be received under the UKSPF to bolster rural productivity.

But the government’s new plans signal a marked shift from previous EU investment models, where rural areas benefitted from a ringfenced fund every year. 

Closer inspection of the 2021/2022 Budget shows that there will be no dedicated funding in the UKSPF for rural businesses, as the ESIF rural fund had already been allocated for 2020/2021.

An overwhelming majority of farming and rural businesses are bracing for heavy profit losses following the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new survey.

Property consultancy Knight Frank has launched its 10th Rural Report today (19 June), revealing the impact of the coronavirus on UK rural firms.

Surveying hundreds of farmers and other rural stakeholders, 80% said they expected profits to fall in 2020, with 35% saying profitability would be affected ‘significantly’.

While firms relying mostly on traditional income sources said they would be less affected, the ones that largely depend on tourism or leisure expected to be badly hit.

Just under 40% of those taking the survey said they had shut down elements of their businesses, while a similar proportion said tenants were struggling to pay their rents.

Four in 10 confirmed they had furloughed staff as part of the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme, but only 3% reported making redundancies.

However, only 8% of respondents believed their long-term viability was under threat – and many were still making plans to expand or diversify their businesses, including tapping into concerns about the environment.

Half of respondents plan to plant more trees, while almost 40% expect to dedicate more of their land to conservation.

Clive Hopkins, head of farms at Knight Frank, said Covid-19 had ‘ruthlessly exposed’ financial vulnerabilities within the rural sector.

The survey by Scottish Land and Estates (SLE) of 250 firms found 56% are confident they can reopen all of their business safely, while 36% are confident part of their business can restart while adhering to social distancing measures.

The businesses questioned ranged from the tourism to farming sectors, with little variation in confidence.

However, those involved in the food and drink industry and hospitality were slightly less confident about being able to safely open.

Sarah-Jane Laing, chief executive of SLE, said: “This survey confirms that rural businesses are ready to help restart Scotland’s rural economy safely. “Over 90% of rural businesses who responded to our survey are confident they can maintain social distancing measures if they reopen all or part of their business.

The overall UK superfast coverage figures may have 96.33% of the UK with a 30 Mbps or faster broadband option and in England it is marginally higher at 96.86% but lower in Wales at 95.1%.

What these overall figures hide is the variation that occurs and the biggest level of variation is down to whether properties are in a rural or urban postcode, so in rural England and Wales superfast coverage is down at 89.5% versus 98.6% in urban areas. Things get worse as you head into the very obviously rural areas where 1 in 5 don’t have access to a superfast option.

The total number of premises in England and Wales is 26,794,267 and whether a postcode is classified as rural or urban is determined using the standard ONS classifications. Coverage and number of premises is based on an analysis run overnight on 4th and 5th May 2020. Local authority level rural and urban splits are available but for brevity are not included. We will at some point May 2020 publish the Scottish figures too.

The good news for now is that the two rural definitions are ahead in the availability of full fibre, but the figures do make it very clear why there is still complaints about availability of broadband services and the chorus gets louder the further you head out from the urban sprawl. We are seeing the lead in FTTP coverage shrinking as urban areas see roll-outs from firms such as Openreach and CityFibre.

The poor superfast broadband coverage figures will have people wondering what was the point of all the BDUK projects, at which point it is time to look at a county level figures, where the rural superfast coverage in Suffolk has gone from 82.3% to 91.7% in the last two years. The urban coverage level in Suffolk in May 2018 was 98.7% and at the weekend when the county splits were calculated was 98.6%. 

Ministers should immediately set out plans for a “carefully phased” lifting of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, a business group has said.

“This is a time to be bold,” said the British Chambers of Commerce, adding high public spending should continue if needed to restart the economy.

Boris Johnson has said he will outline plans relating to schools, commuting and the workplace in the coming week.

But the PM stressed the UK must not “risk a second spike” in infections.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps told the BBC that businesses could be asked to stagger employees working hours, once lockdown eases, to help prevent crowding on public transport.

“There are a series of different things that we can do including staggering work times, and we’re working with businesses and organisations to do that,” he said.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said business groups and major employers expect to receive draft guidance from the government on Sunday about the safe return to work when the lockdown eases.

In a letter to Mr Johnson, BCC president Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith said planning and communication of the government’s approach to leaving lockdown “must begin immediately if we are to harness the public health and economic benefits”.

As many as one in four rural businesses could be left facing bankruptcy in a no-deal Brexit, and the staunchly Conservative rural vote may be in doubt as a result, the head of the UK’s landowners’ group has warned on the eve of the Tory party conference.

Farmers are particularly vulnerable to a no-deal Brexit because tariffs would be levied on exports, imports of cheap food could flood the market, and because decisions must be made now which will have an impact for the next year. Arable farmers are putting crops in the ground now for spring, and livestock farmers are preparing to breed sheep and other livestock for next year.

Tim Breitmeyer, president of the Country Land and Business Association, said farms and the rural businesses that rely on them were not in a position to absorb the shock of Brexit, and estimates suggested a large number would be in danger.

“Agriculture is not making very much money. In many cases, they’re losing [money] without the single farm payment [subsidy]. If you have a tariff to add to your problems, if you have increased costs to add to your problems, it’s only going to make matters worse and tip some businesses over the top,” he told the Guardian. “Now I don’t know whether that’s 15% or 25% but I’m absolutely sure there will be quite a few farming businesses for which it actually just tips them into receivership.”

Rural areas voted overwhelmingly for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, which Breitmeyer called a “protest vote for the fact that rural Britain got abandoned”. But the reality of new tariffs on exports, rising import costs, the crash in value of the pound and difficulties in employing migrant labour were taking a toll, he said.

UK growth slowed sharply in the final three months of 2018 as Brexit anxiety weighed on consumers and firms, official figures published on Monday are expected to show.

City economists estimate that economic growth halved to just 0.3% in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with 0.6% growth in the third quarter.

If confirmed by the Office for National Statistics, it would be the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2018 when GDP increased by just 0.1%.

Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec, said growth in December alone was likely to have flatlined.

“Putting the pieces together, we are forecasting GDP to have remained unchanged in December, although it is possible that we see a very small gain,” he said. “This results in a 0.3% rise [for the fourth quarter].

“We will look closely at business investment – the area which we consider to be the most affected by Brexit worries – and specifically to see if it recorded its fourth consecutive quarterly decline in the fourth quarter.”

On a chilly autumn evening the pubs on the edges of the moors come alive with the sounds of celebration after a good day’s shooting. 

But this year those same pubs lay empty, as a shortage of grouse saw 70 per cent of the shoot days in the North of England cancelled. 

With the season coming to a close on Monday, it can be revealed that the shortage has cost rural areas millions in lost income. 

The vibrant shooting community, which moves into remote moorland areas just as the tourists begin to move out, has in some places disappeared entirely. 

Part of the problem is that my home-based business is two miles from the nearest main road with very limited public transport connections. Since I can remember, we’ve never had a bus come through our village of Clapton. Along the main road there’s one bus from Bristol to Glastonbury every 30 minutes – it’s a four and a half mile walk from the bus stop to where I live. So a prerequisite of the job is a driving licence and being able to afford to run a car.

For me, there’s an added challenge that Indian cookery is a specialist skill and finding someone with that skill, or the ability to learn quickly, hasn’t been easy. I have approached an examination board about my teaching an Indian cookery unit to local chefs, but I was told there isn’t a demand for Indian cooking.

I’ve been lucky to hire a retired police officer, who now helps me with the business a few days a week. But it’s a shame I haven’t been able to find a young recruit. Someone young would be perfect for my business – I’m keen to train someone up to become a manager and to run the production line in the long term.

Leading entrepreneur and businesswomen, Michelle Mone OBE, has been appointed to conduct an independent review to encourage further business start-ups and entrepreneurship in disadvantaged communities, including areas of high unemployment.

The UK is rated as the best place in Europe and one of the best places in the world to start a business. And as part of the government’s long-term economic plan, nearly 70,000 new businesses have been set up through the New Enterprise Allowance scheme since 2010.